Pokemon vs Digimon 02: Virus
by Seth Turtle
Summary: Six months have passed since the Experiment came to an end. Since that time, Mewtwo has lived peacefully in the Digital World as the only pokemon there, until now.
1. Primary Village

(Author's Note: This is the sequel to The Experiment, although it doesn't quite live up to that story. Don't worry, I still think it's worth reading. ^_^ Enjoy! *bows*)  
  
Six months have passed since the experiment came to an end. Since that time, Mewtwo has lived peacefully in the Digital World, isolated from all except the few he called friends- most notably Biyomon. Unable to return home (even if he wanted to), Mewtwo became the first and only pokemon to live in the Digital World...until now.  
  
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Primary Village  
June 7th, 2001  
----------------  
  
Elecmon padded through the field of eggs, humming a happy tune to himself. He checked for any eggs that might be hatching soon, but a quick look showed none of them were glowing or shaking. Elecmon smiled and walked towards the playground area, where the young baby digimon were playing around. Just as he was about to leave, an odd noise that sounded like wobbling.  
  
"Hmm?" Elecmon turned around to the source of the noise. A couple yards away, a blue and black striped egg was glowing a bright blue. Elecmon went over and looked at it with a smile. "Come on out little one."  
  
The glowing egg flashed brightly, and Elecmon was forced to shield his eyes momentarily. When he opened them again, a brown wicker basket with a sky blue pillow in it had appeared. Resting on the pillow was a baby unlike anything the digimon had ever seen. It looked like a black marble the size of a golf ball, with dozens of even smaller black dots floating around it. The little thing had two blue dots for eyes that looked up in Elecmon's direction.  
  
"Well hello," said Elecmon in a sing-song voice as he picked up the little baby. "And what's your name?" The little creature didn't answer; it just continued to look at Elecmon. "...Shy little guy aren't you?" he said cheerfully as he put the little critter on his back and gave him a ride towards the playground.  
  
When they reached the playground where the other digimon were playing around, Elecmon let the little baby on his back hop down. "Now you have fun with the others, while I go work on getting some lunch for everybody." Elecmon turned and ran off towards the nearby river to go fishing.  
  
The little baby watched as several Punimon played with a brightly colored rubber ball, pushing it back and forth. One of the Punimon noticed the new arrival, and hopped over to where he sat. "Hi, I'm Punimon. What's your name?"  
  
"..."  
  
The punimon looked at the other baby confusedly. "Hello? Are you listening?" Without warning, the little baby suddenly glowed a bright blue, and seemed to explode into a lot of small dots like the ones flying around it. The hundreds of dots swirled in the air, and within seconds the blue glow disappeared, revealing an unorganized, yet united collection of black dots.  
  
"Wow! He digivolved!" cried the excited punimon. The other punimon, as well as several other baby digimon came over and stared up in awe at the giant floating black ball. As they looked at it, the black dots around it began to swirl faster, and the creature's "body" glowed bright blue. The frightened baby digimon scurried away as fast as they could, crying loudly as the ground started to vibrate.  
  
Meanwhile, by the river, Elecmon finished off a Super Thunder Strike, which fried another batch of fish in the water, sending them flying to the shore. As Elecmon gathered them up, he could hear the sound of the baby's crying and screaming, as well as an odd rumble coming from the Primary Village.  
  
"Oh no, the babies!" Elecmon dashed towards the village as fast as his little legs could carry him. "Don't worry little ones, I'm coming!" Elecmon closed the distance between the river and the village playground in record time, and found the forty-some baby digimon cowering in terror under one of the toy-filled trees. They all cringed next to Elecmon, who stood between them and the mass of glowing dots. "Don't worry little ones, I'm here! Go hide, quickly!" The little digimon obeyed, and ran off en masse as Elecmon stared at the source of the trouble with determination.  
  
"I don't know what you are, but you're going to pay for scaring my babies!" growled Elecmon. "Super Thunder Strike!" A powerful bolt of electric energy flew from Elecmon's body, but rather than hit it, the electricity pixels changed into beautiful pink flower petals, which fell harmlessly around the mass of dots.  
  
"What happened?" yelled a shocked Elecmon. As what just happened sunk in, the mystery enemy launched a blast of high-pressure water that the digimon could barely avoid. The attack slammed into one of the house-sized bouncy blocks that populated Primary Village, plowing a huge hole through it with ease.  
  
"Whoa!" The rumbling in the village grew louder, and as a much louder tearing noise filled the air, the ground started to split and crack as the earth shattered under some invisible pressure. Elecmon stared in horror at the bouncy blocks and toy trees as they fell to the ground or were knocked around by the mini-earthquake. Some objects as small as a toy truck or as large as a granite boulder flew into the air, as if they were falling up. Elecmon suddenly flew up as well, screaming in surprise as the creature glowed silently.  
  
"Somebody help! The babies are in danger!" cried Elecmon as loud as possible before blackness overtook him, coupled with a burning pain inside.  
  
****  
  
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Kamiya Residence  
-------------------  
  
Gatomon moved the nail filer back and forth on her claw, sharpening it to a fine point. She blew off a piece of bone and examined the claws with a flick of the wrist as a test. She returned to filing, while someone else in the room struggled elsewhere in the room behind a closet door.  
  
"So Kari, what's this school dance for anyway? Isn't it the middle of the summer?" asked Gatomon.  
  
"I already told you Gatomon, this is just a summer dance put on by the student body. It's to celebrate the end of the year."  
  
"Even though the end of school was weeks ago?" added Gatomon. Kari walked out of the closet in a stunning pink dress that hugged her body and was short enough to attract attention, but not in a tasteless manner. Kari sat at her mirror and tried to decide what earrings she should wear for the occasion.  
  
"I wonder who will be there," mused Kari as she tried on an earring with a crescent moon design, then decided against them.  
  
"I'm sure Davis and TK will be there," answered Gatomon. "You're going to be busy trying to keep them from fighting over you."  
  
Kari giggled. "Well, I'm sure there'll be plenty of fast dances, so it shouldn't be a problem." Kari tried on a pair of simple earrings made of three small crystals that dangled on a string. Kari looked at them for a little while in the mirror, then turned to Gatomon. "What do you think?" she asked.  
  
Gatomon cocked her head as she looked. "They look great. Stick with those."  
  
"Are you sure?" said Kari, turning back to the mirror again. "Do you think the guys will like them?"  
  
"I don't think their eyes will make it to your earrings," said Gatomon. Kari giggled and tossed a pillow at Gatomon, who deftly avoided it as she laughed.  
  
Kari put on a pair of one-inch high heels and stood up to test them out. She danced around a little bit, and found them a little difficult to manage compared to her typical footwear, but not impossible to be graceful in. "Hey Gatomon, do you think I should put on some make-up? What color lipstick does Angewomon use?"  
  
Gatomon smiled. "I think you should go without. You look fine the way you are."  
  
Kari smiled. "Are you saying that just to be nice?"  
  
"Hey, my credibility as a digimon is on the line. It's my business to make sure you look stunning." The two laughed, and Gatomon started offering suggestions on Kari's dance moves.  
  
----------------------  
Motomiya Residence  
----------------------  
  
Davis smiled at the mirror, and made sure his tie was straight. His black and white tux was clean as could be, and unlike his normal fashion, Davis wasn't wearing his goggles. When his clip-on tie was arranged the way he wanted it, he made a toothy smile to show off his pearly white teeth and struck a goofy pose.   
  
"Hey Kari, wanna dance?...*ahem* How's it going Kari? You look wonderful tonight...grrrr...Kari, would you honor me with the next dance?"  
  
"Why are you talking to the mirror Davis?" asked Demiveemon as he watched his human companion curiously.  
  
Davis groaned. "Not now Demiveemon, I've gotta practice my line!" The boy noticed he was missing his boutonnière. Davis picked up the small red rose for his tuxedo and pinned it on carefully.  
  
"I still don't get it. Why do you have to practice how to ask Kari to dance?" asked the little digimon. "It doesn't sound that hard."  
  
Davis sighed. "I can't just ask her to dance. It's not that simple," answered Davis. "If I sound like a dork, she won't wanna dance with me."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because!"  
  
"Because why?" repeated Demiveemon.  
  
Davis growled. "Demiveemon..."  
  
BeepBeepBeep.../"Somebody help! The babies are in danger!"/  
  
Demiveemon ran to the D3 on Davis' desk. "Who's that?" asked Davis.  
  
"Why you asking me?" replied the blue digimon. "Whoever it is, they're in trouble and they're in the Digital World."  
  
Davis reached over and picked up his goggles. As he put them on, he said "Then let's go!" Davis picked up the D3, ran over to his computer, and shouted "Digi-port open!".  
  
****  
  
------------------------  
The Digital World  
Outside Primary Village  
------------------------  
  
The digital portal glowed as five human forms and five digimon forms materialized. Four of the kids had been dressed in finery before their entrance into the Digital World, but as always, their wardrobe changed upon entrance into this world.  
  
"Okay, let's keep this quick so that we don't miss the dance." said Davis. "So you guys got the distress signal too?"  
  
"Yeah, it was from Elecmon." said TK. "He's an old friend. I wonder what happened."  
  
"Guys, look!" shouted Yolei. She pointed across the field, where hundreds of eggs were scattered seemingly at random. The land itself was in disarray, looking as if an earthquake had hit it. The once beautiful Primary Village was in ruins, and not a single digimon baby could be found.  
  
"Oh my gosh, what happened!" cried Kari. She and TK ran around to gather the digieggs, finding most of them intact. Most... but not all. Kari fell to her knees in front of one egg in particular, which was shattered in one part, but apparently still clinging to life since it hadn't been reconfigured. "The... poor baby." Unsure of what to do, Kari just sat there, cradling the half-developed baby digimon.  
  
Veemon growled angrily, but kept a tight rein on his rage. "Who did this!" yelled the digimon. "Who would attack a townful of babies and eggs! Who would be so cruel!" Veemon slammed his fist into the ground, crunching some good-sized rocks.  
  
"Over here!" called out Hawkmon. "It's Elecmon!"  
  
"Elecmon!" TK, Kari, and the others ran over to where Hawkmon was kneeling, and saw a very battered and bruised Elecmon. TK picked up the digimon, who grunted painfully as he was moved.  
  
Elecmon looked up at TK's concerned face. "...T...K?"  
  
"Elecmon, what happened?" he asked. "Who did this to the Primary Village?"  
  
"Uhh...I...don't know. I've never seen a digimon like that before...and it had just hatched only moments before..."  
  
"What was it like? What do you mean?"  
  
Elecmon held his side, which was starting to depixelate. "Errah...it...it was a whole lot of dots...like marbles...that floated and glowed blue when it used its power."  
  
"That doesn't sound like any digimon I've ever heard about," said Armadillomon. "Did it have a name?" Elecmon's face contorted with the pain in his body, and he struggled to stop from being reconfigured.  
  
"Elecmon, please hold on!" begged TK, shaking the digimon's head lightly. "Please, you have to help us. You can do it, you're the toughest babysitter I know."  
  
Elecmon smiled. "Yes...at least the babies are safe. They're nearby, my friends. Please...take care of them for me, until I get back."  
  
"...Elecmon?" The digimon's eyes closed, and his body went limp. "Elecmon!" yelled TK. The digimon's life ended, and Elecmon disappeared into nothingness, leaving TK's arms.  
  
"...Elecmon," whispered TK sadly. He closed his eyes, keeping his sadness inside, and stood up, still looking at the spot where Elecmon was.  
  
"...TK?" said Patamon from his spot over him.  
  
"Are you okay?" whispered Kari, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder.  
  
TK eventually looked up at the others, and gave a light smile. "...Yeah. I know he'll be back to his old, obsessive self soon enough."  
  
****  
  
Cody walked around the village, looking for clues as to what the enemy was, while the others worked on regathering the digi-babies and the digi-eggs. Cody kneeled down next to a deflated bouncy block, where the apparent epicenter of the force that destroyed the village was. Judging from the angle and distribution of the uplifted earth, it looked like whatever it was...it really had some muscle behind its powers.  
  
"Find something?" said Davis as he walked to where Cody was.  
  
"Maybe," answered Cody quietly, standing up once again. "Have they found the babies?"  
  
"Yeah, they're okay. Right now TK, Kari, and Yolei and the digimon are feeding them all. I don't know how Elecmon kept up with those things! They're always hungry!"  
  
"Yeah...babies tend to be that way," said Cody. "At least they're still alive. Something tells me that's a good thing."  
  
Davis gave him an odd look. "Well, nobody likes to die Cody..."  
  
"That's not what I mean," said the boy. "Haven't you noticed that Elecmon's egg hasn't arrived yet?"  
  
Davis blinked. "Was I supposed to? I wasn't keeping track."  
  
"It's been a few hours since Elecmon... well, you know. His egg should have arrived quickly since reconfiguring doesn't take too long, but not a single egg has appeared this whole time."  
  
"So what? Maybe there's just lag or something," suggested Davis. "We are in the Digital World, after all."  
  
"I don't think so..." muttered Cody. "I'm going to keep watching."  
  
"...All right. Don't make it too long, unless you want to stay here by yourself. We still have the dance to go to."  
  
Cody frowned as he sat down on an inclined rock. "Yeah...the dance."  
  
Davis looked at the sad boy with concern. "What's wrong?"  
  
"Oh...nothing."  
  
Davis sat down on the ground opposite Cody. "...Aren't you going?"  
  
"...No."  
  
"Why not? I thought everybody in school was going." Davis leaned back against a rock.  
  
"Well, I'm not," replied Cody evenly.  
  
"Why not? Don't have a date?"  
  
"No, I-"  
  
"Hey, I don't have a date either," interrupted Davis. "All the coolest guys don't have dates. We get to dance with more girls."  
  
Cody's face fell. "But I don't want to dance with lots of girls. One girl is more than enough..."  
  
"So who'd you ask? Anybody I know?"  
  
"..."  
  
Davis smiled evilly. "What's her name?"  
  
Cody's cheeks turned red. "That's none of your business!"  
  
Davis put his hands up defensively. "Hey hey hey, I'm just wondering." Cody huffed one more time and sat looking at the ground angrily. Cody said nothing more, and Davis waited quietly for the others to finish caring for the baby digimon.  
  
****  
  
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Izumi Residence  
-----------------  
  
Izzy smiled as a member of the chat room named Mrryln64 made a funny joke. Izzy (otherwise called Tentodude in the chat room) typed a response to it, and tried starting a conversation with some of the more interesting people in the room. Suddenly, his computer screen flickered, and a subwindow opened up, entitled "System Error".  
  
"What the..." Izzy paused in his chatting to check on the error, and was surprised to find out where it was. "A system error...?" Izzy checked the data to find out what the problem was. Apparently, the gate program for the Digital World had a strange glitch in it...but how did it get there?  
  
"Hmm...let's see. I'll run a system check," thought Izzy aloud. A quick press of the buttons and the check was under way. After barely a second, the program returned a very long list of errors.  
  
"Wow... error count: 2,147,483,648! That's means the computer can't count them all! But...how?" Upon closer inspection, Izzy saw the errors themselves. Strangely enough, every single error said the exact, same word.  
  
Missingo. 


	2. Static

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The Digital World

-------------------

Evenings in the Digital World were a spectacular sight to see. Unlike the real world, the skies here were completely clean of pollution. Thus, it was easy to see all the stars in the sky. Of course, one would inevitably start to wonder how those stars got there. Were they from a website about space? Were they just pictures, and not real stars burning billions of miles away? Or were they something else entirely? In the Digital World, you could never tell. All you could do was admire it.

_One of these days... I'm going to fly to that giant moon in the sky, and see if it's really there. Seeing it reminds me of home... spending the long nights awake, musing on my past... deciding how best to hide my "children" from Giovanni and his servants. *Sigh*... I hope they're all right. Dragonite is a good caretaker... and the super pokémon know how to take care of themselves if anyone attacked... but still... we were family. There, I was their protector... their guardian. Here... I'm nothing. Over the last six months, I've learned that I'm not needed. If I have nobody to protect… then what use am I?_

As these thoughts went through his head, he stared up into the sky, perched upon a high rock like the cat... like the 'predator' that he was. The full moon shined in the background, making his silhouette easily visible in the twilight. To him, the night was like a blanket; it gave him a feeling of security. One might ask why a creature like him would need to feel safe, but you forget. All predators feel safe in the dark... because they know they are in control.

*snap*

A sound. A twig has broken. Instinctively he scanned the area with his telepathic abilities, but immediately he suppressed it. With the full moon shining bright, he felt like letting his wild side come out to play. He lowered his body to the ground as much as possible and stared in the direction of the noise. His ears swerved in the direction of the sound, and his glowing eyes scanned the area for its source. He knew that something was there, but what it was he wasn't sure about. He sniffed the air, calling up old instinctive memories. He wasn't sure what to expect, since in the Digital World even the smells were a little off-kilter. Digimon scents were a little weird to one not trained or used to them. He had been here long enough to get a feel for them though, and it was easy enough to tell that it was a digimon in the vicinity.

_Hmm...a familiar scent._ The pokémon relaxed a little, realizing whom it was. He let his thick tail move around to pass the time before the digimon found him. He could call out, but that would ruin the fun. Besides, all predators felt better knowing they could hide so well that they couldn't be found even when they were close enough to whisper.

From the brush below the rocky outcropping, a small, plant-like creature emerged. It had a pink flower petal adorning its head, and several leaves beneath it that served as hair for the digimon. She stepped cautiously, since she was a little scared of these parts of the woods. She knew that several large digimon lived around here, and without her human friend there to help her digivolve...

"...Mewtwo?" she whispered. "Are you here? It's me, Palmon."

"Psst... Palmon," whispered another digimon. Palmon turned around as a little pink bird digimon walked up behind her.

Mewtwo thought about talking to them telepathically, but decided against it. He was still curious to see how long it would take for them to find him.

"Biyomon, are you sure he's here?" whispered Palmon. "I don't think anything is around here."

"Palmon, I know he's here. This is where he goes to relax," answered Biyomon.

"How would _you_ know?" asked Palmon.

"Usually he lets me relax with him," she answered with a smile. "When he's in a good mood, he's like a playful little kitten."

"_Him_ in a good mood? You've gotta be kidding," replied Palmon with a smile. "Whenever I see him, he always looks like he's about to blow up something."

"You just don't know the real him," said Biyomon. "He's very calm and quiet."

RRRAHRAHRR!!

"AHHHHH!" shrieked the two digimon, jumping about thirty feet into the air before landing back on the ground in a heap. They scrambled to their feet and searched for the source of the roar. Rather than hear a roar however, they heard something like... laughing? Biyomon and Palmon got up, while Mewtwo sat up so that they could see him easily. He was smiling lightly and laughing in the back of his throat, while the two digimon regained control of their heart rates.

"Mewtwo, what was the point of _that_!" yelled Palmon. Biyomon couldn't help but start laughing as well. "I just about had a heart attack!"

Mewtwo hopped down from his perch to where the other two were. "Sorry, I couldn't help it," he answered. "Is something the matter?"

"'Is something the matter?'...Where've you been!" asked Biyomon. "Nobody has seen you in weeks. You could have told _someone_ where you went."

"I can take care of myself, Biyomon. I don't need an escort."

Palmon stomped up to the much taller Mewtwo. "Just because you think you're all big and bad doesn't mean you can just disappear without telling anybody! What if something happened to you, and nobody knew where you were?" Mewtwo glanced over at Biyomon, who looked at him wordlessly. She didn't have to- her eyes showed the concern that was in her mind.

"...I'm sorry, but I needed some time to think. I didn't mean to worry you."

Biyomon smiled lightly. "It's okay… but don't make us worry like that."

"She was the only one worried," added Palmon. Biyomon whacked the other digimon from behind, and whistled innocently when Palmon turned around.

Mewtwo looked at the night sky to get a feel for what time it was. He looked back down at the two digimon. "Well, since you two are here, I might as well fly you home." Mewtwo picked the two digimon up carefully and lightly floated into the air as he headed west towards the main continent.

"By the way, how did you two get here?" asked Mewtwo. "It's a long way to Server."

"Biyomon gave me a ride when I offered to come with her," answered Palmon.

"Yeah, but I didn't expect her to have gained a few pounds," said Biyomon playfully.

"Hey, I've been cutting down!" said Palmon defensively. "You've just gotten weak in your old age."

"Old age! I'm only five! You're the same age as me!"

"Hey old lady, you're ten seconds older than I am!" retorted Palmon. "And besides, I look much younger than you."

Biyomon gasped from the insult. "What's that supposed to mean!" Mewtwo couldn't help but smile as the two digimon bickered in his arms.

*ping*

Mewtwo's eyes instantly focused into a determined stare, causing the two digimon to stop. "...Mewtwo?" said Biyomon tentatively.

The pokémon looked slowly towards a spot far to the southwest. "...Something is wrong."

****

"It's about time you guys showed up," said Davis. Davis glanced down at his D3 for the time as TK, Kari, and Yolei met him and Cody at the gate. "We're already late for the dance."

"Just relax Davis. There's still plenty of time for you to lean against the wall and watch everyone else dance with their dates," said Yolei.

"Yeah right Yolei. So what loser did you get to go on a date with you? Bernie from the Science Club?"

Yolei turned red slightly. "Well, I uh... I'm going with Ken," she said with slight embarrassment.

Cody's face twitched. "Let's just get back home," he said angrily. Yolei kept her eyes on the ground, while the others stared in surprise at the little digidestined. Cody turned to the TV with his digivice held out. "Digi-port open!"

Nothing.

"Huh?" Cody tried again. "Digi-port open!" Again, nothing happened. Cody looked at his D3. "Don't tell me my battery ran out! Man, what a night..."

"Let me try," said TK. He held out his digivice. "Digi-port open!" They waited for several seconds, but again nothing happened.

"What's goin' on?" asked Armadillomon. "Is the TV broken?"

"Maybe we should look for another one," added Davis. 

"The closest one is probably a mile away though, at least," said Hawkmon.

"Something weird is going on," said Cody.

_Beep Beep Beep_...**"Guys, you there?"**

"Izzy?" Davis held up his D3. "What is it Izzy?"

**"Have you tried to use the gate yet?"**

"Yeah, we tried but it didn't work," answered Davis. "Is something wrong with it?"

**"Not only is something wrong with the gate, but there's something strange happening at a place near your position."** On their D3's, a beeping white dot appeared on their Detect mode screen. Judging by the position of the dot, it was about a hundred yards to the north.

"What do you mean? There's-"

A low, rumbling noise began. The ground seemed to vibrate slowly, causing pebbles in the vicinity to shuffle around.

**"You were saying?"**

"What is that!" yelled Veemon. "We don't get many earthquakes around here!"

**"As far as I can tell, something is disrupting the data of the Digital World in that area. It's sending out waves of static that seem to be messing up the digital information. I've never seen anything like it, but it seems to be causing the problems with the gate."**

"Can we stop it?" asked TK quickly.

**"Possibly. The source of the problem seems to be an entity of some sort."**

"An entity?" repeated Davis. "Don't you mean a digimon?"

**"I don't know if it really _is_ a digimon. It seems to be digital...but it doesn't have a definite form to it. It looks too random to be alive, but it registers on the Digimon Analyzer somehow."**

"Well, does it have a name?" said Davis as they ran towards the center of the rumbling, which seemingly grew stronger as they got closer.

**"The picture is just static, and the other data is just a bunch of zeroes!"** replied Izzy. **"The analyzer can tell it's a digital life form, but it has no data on it."**

"Whatever, we've just got to stop it! Let's go guys!" said Davis. The team ran as fast as it could towards the problem source, noticing that the ground was shaking even more violently the nearer they got. Soon, they came into a clearing, where the ground was being forced outward like ripples in a pond. At the center of this ripple, a strange mass of swirling black dots, with blue energy crackling between the various marble-like objects floated. The digidestined couldn't tell if it saw them, since it didn't have any eyes as far as they could tell.

"Hey!" shouted Davis. "You better stop this or we'll have to teach you a lesson!"

Kari gave him a cock-eyed glance. "Was that your 'all-powerful' statement of courage to the enemy?"

"Well what do you want me to say?" he replied. "Hello Mister bad guy, could you please stop making this earthquake?"

The rumbling effect around the monster increased, and a wave of force swept through the ground, shattering earth and sending the kids and their digimon flying backwards. They landed with a thud several yards away, aching and groaning.

Veemon got to his feet first. "That's it! I've had enough of this guy! V-headbutt!" The blue digimon sped through the air like a speeding bullet, and slammed through the enemy with ease. When he came out the other side, he was screaming in pain, and crackling with blue energy like that within the creature. He convulsed on the ground, flickering as its body's pixels visibly weakened.

"Veemon!" cried out Davis as he ran over to Veemon.

"Let's go guys!" ordered Gatomon. "Don't let it touch you!" As the digimon charged, the kids held their D3's up high, and started the digivolving sequence.

Hawkmon, armor digivolve to... Halsemon, the Wings of Love!

Armadillomon, armor digivolve to... Digmon, the Drill of Power!

Patamon, armor digivolve to... Pegasumon, Flying Hope!

Gatomon, armor digivolve to... Nefertimon, the Angel of Light!

Davis kneeled beside Veemon and held him up carefully. "Veemon! You okay?"

The digimon growled with pain. Slowly the odd crackling halted, as did the pain...well, most of it. "That guy... sure has some spank in him."

Davis smiled. "Yeah, you're alright. Are you up for some digivolving?"

"I...I'll try," said Veemon as he managed to get on his own two feet. He clenched his fists and grunted menacingly as Davis whipped out his digivice.

Veemon, digivolve to... Patamon?

Davis practically fell over. "What the heck happened?" he cried. "You're Patamon!"

'Veemon' screamed frightfully as he looked at himself. "Ahh! I'm a flying pig!"

Pegasusmon shot another Star Shower at the mystery being, who shimmered as he moved quickly out of the line of fire. "Flying pig? Why you... Watch it!" he said as a high-pressure water blast was launched towards Nefertimon nearby. The two armor digimon dived out of the way.

"Veemon, de-digivolve and try again," said Davis quickly.

"Got it!" the digimon said, in Patamon's high voice. The digimon glowed momentarily, and soon Veemon was back again. He patted himself to make sure, then checked his head for wing-ears, and breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay..."

"Veemon, digivolve to... Exveemon!"

"*Phew*... all right, go get him Exveemon!" yelled Davis.

"With pleasure! Exvee Blast!" A blast of energy shot out from the digimon's chest towards the opponent, and slammed into its floating form with enough force to send just about all its pieces flying to the ground. The multi-marbled creature crackled as it tried to reassemble itself and float back up, but the blast seemingly took out the last of its strength, causing it to disappear into thousands of tiny pixels.

"All right!" cheered Davis. "We got it!"

"Don't celebrate just yet Davis!" said Exveemon. "Look!" When they looked over at the place where the creature had just turned into a million itty-bitty pieces, they were shocked to see the pixels themselves actually gather. They shoot off in a seemingly random direction, leaving the kids and the digimon in shock as the rumbling stopped.

"Where'd that thing go?" asked Exveemon as he de-digivolved into Veemon once again. "I've never seen anything do that before!"

"Is everyone alright?" asked Kari as she picked up Gatomon.

"Yeah, I think so," answered Davis. "So what is that thing?"

"...Missingo," said a soft, deep voice as it landed. The digidestined and digimon turned to see a familiar face- Mewtwo, along with Biyomon and Palmon hopping down from his arms.

"Missingo?" repeated Yolei. "That doesn't sound like a digimon name..."

Mewtwo frowned. "That's because it wasn't a digimon. It was a pokémon... from my world."


	3. Bringer of the End

----------------------

The Digital World

Near Primary Village

----------------------

TK held his D3 towards the TV set once again, while the others looked on. "Digi-port open!" The gate glowed slightly, but like the other times it failed to open. He pocketed his digivice. "Looks like we're stuck here."

Davis moaned in complaint. "Why did this have to happen tonight! There are 384 other nights in the year."

"Davis, there are 365 days in a year, not 385," corrected Kari.

"Either way this still is the worst night it could have happened!" he yelled. "Now we're going to miss the dance!"

Izzy's voice could be heard on their digivices. **"The gate should have repaired itself after the source of the problem was destroyed. I'll try and work on fixing the gate another way. Keep in touch."** The transmission ended as abruptly as it started.

Mewtwo nodded slowly. "Missingo isn't that easy to destroy, especially here in the Digital World. He's still alive, somewhere."

"What is he?" asked Hawkmon. 

"Whatever he is," added Veemon, "he messed up my digivolving after I touched him."

"That reminds me," said Patamon. "I'm not a flying pig!" TK laughed, while Veemon backed away from Patamon's general area, laughing nervously.

"Not only that, he stripped away our armor during the fight and turned us into Rookies," said Armadillomon. "I didn't think that could be done."

"I don't think Missingo did any of that on purpose."

"Care to explain what you mean?" asked Gatomon. "If he's a pokémon from your world, you should know a great deal about him."

Mewtwo frowned as he crossed his arms and bowed his head in thought. "...Actually, I know very little about him. All I know is that Missingo is not a normal pokémon, and is rarely spoken of, even among pokémon researchers in the human world. He's the only one of his kind as far as I know, and I'm not sure if he has a mind of his own, or is just an animal running on instinct. Either way, he's a dangerous creature."

"If he's a pokémon, how come he hatched from a digiegg?" said Cody from his rock seat. "Elecmon mentioned that Missingo hatched from an egg in Primary Village."

"I don't know how that happened, but it may have something to do with the fact that he is entirely digital," replied Mewtwo. "There are some pokémon who are digital life forms like yourselves, and may be able to pass for digimon if they really wanted to. A Porygon, for example."

"That might mean he could be reconfigured like a normal digimon," said Yolei, "but how did he get reconfigured? Better yet, how did he get here in the first place? There are no pokémon in the Digital World, other than Mewtwo."

"...He most likely got here the same way I did," said Mewtwo. "During the experiment, when the two worlds were linked."

"All the pokémon were here when that happened," added Kari, "but they were returned afterwards with a signal like the one that brought them here."

"Why wouldn't Missingo have gone back?" said Biyomon, joining in the conversation.

Mewtwo shook his head. "I don't know. Whatever the reason, his presence in the Digital World is a death sentence for everything living here. Missingo is a living virus; any digital or electrical system he touches becomes corrupted, warped or completely erased. For a digimon and the Digital World, that would mean death."

Veemon's eyes were wide with shock, realizing how close to death he had come. "But...but, I touched him and I'm all right."

"Digimon are made up of gigabytes worth of data, even at the Rookie level," said Yolei. "It would take a really big virus to completely erase something that big. Missingo is just not strong enough I guess."

Veemon frowned and looked down at his hands. "I hope you're right."

"Missingo possesses very weak abilities and endurance, but his strength is incredible. Even at his current level, he has the raw force of a higher-level digimon. If he continues to gain strength, the spatial distortions around him could easily wipe out everything in his path like a hurricane, without him even lifting a finger."

"We have to stop Missingo before he wanders into a more populated area and deletes millions of digimon," said Palmon.

Veemon's knuckles cracked as he balled his hands into fists. "Then let's start looking," he said evenly.

"There's a problem," said Cody. "Where do we start looking? The Digital World is a big place for a monster to hide in. He could gather energy quietly for a long time before we find him."

Davis nodded. "I guess we'll just split up and start searching. We'll keep in contact with our digivices...oh wait, you don't have digivices," said Davis, referring to Mewtwo, Biyomon, and Palmon.

"We'll gather the other digimon," said Biyomon. "We'll evacuate any digimon in Missingo's path, and protect them if necessary."

"Remember, since the gate is broken, we can't bring the other digidestined to the Digital World, so you won't be able to digivolve," said TK.

"...We know," said Biyomon. 

"Don't worry about us," said Palmon. "We can take care of ourselves."

Cody stepped towards them, followed by Armadillomon. "Please, allow me to come with you. Armadillomon can't fly, so the searching should be left to the others. Besides, if we do find trouble, you may need us."

"You're right, I suppose," said Palmon. "Okay, you're coming with us then."

"Be careful," said Mewtwo. 

The three nodded wordlessly. "You too," said Biyomon softly. Cody and the three digimon went to gather the other digimon from the original team of digidestined as fast as they could.

"I can keep in contact with you all telepathically," said Mewtwo. "Between the five of us, we should be able to find Missingo quickly." Mewtwo closed his eyes and tilted his head back as the blue energy that was his psychic powers flared up around him, blowing dust and grass away from him like a strong breeze. He floated into the air a foot or so, and hovered quietly as he waited for the others to digivolve.

"Okay guys, your turn!" said Davis, pulling out his digivice, along with the other digidestined.

"Veemon, armor digivolve to... Raidramon, the Storm of Friendship!"

"Patamon, armor digivolve to... Pegasusmon, Flying Hope!"

"Gatomon, armor digivolve to... Nefertimon, the Angel of Light!"

"Hawkmon, digivolve to... Aquilamon!"

"All right, let's go!" The monsters sped off towards the four corners of the globe, hoping that they could find Missingo in time.

****

"Look!" said Kari, pointing down towards a patch of forest in a mountain valley. Even from their altitude, Kari and Nefertimon could hear the roar of Missingo's destructive energies. They could actually see the distortion of the Digiworld, as if the environment itself was a rubber picture and the pokémon was a huge weight rolling along it, stretching out and twisting the world around it as it moved.

"I'll call the others," said Kari. She pulled out her D3 and tried speaking into the device, but was instantly met with loud static that made her cringe. She shook it a few times, and even checked the batteries to make sure they weren't falling out, but it should have been working as far as she could tell.

"The signal must be messed up because of Missingo," said Nefertimon. "We should get away from him if we want to get a signal."

"We can't, look over there!" said Kari, pointing farther down the mountain valley. Up ahead, they saw a familiar sight- a huge dam that held back a massive river within the forest. "That's the dam that Golemon almost destroyed. That means..."

"That means there's a town not to far down the valley!" finished Nefertimon. Indeed, they could see the massive city of digimon down below, oblivious to the oncoming threat. "If he keeps going that direction, he'll go right through that town in ten minutes!"

Kari frowned in anger at the situation. "...Wait a minute!" Kari closed her eyes and squinted as she "thought" as hard as she could.

_"Kari?"_

Kari blinked in surprise. She had doubted that thinking at the pokémon would work. "Mewtwo, is that you?"

_"Who else would be talking in your mind?"_

"You'd be surprised at how many voices find their way into my head," answered Kari.

_"Have you found Missingo?"_

"Yes, quick, tell everyone to meet me at the dam!" Nefertimon finally touched down on the outer edge of the forest next to the river. Kari hopped off quickly and retreated out of the battlefield.

_"I've alerted the others, they should be arriving soon. Agumon and his friends are already in the city below you, and are making their way to your position."_

"The others? Aren't you coming too?" 

No answer came. 

"...Mewtwo?"

"Here he comes!" shouted Nefertimon. Kari snapped out of her light trance, and the two determined fighters watched as the trees of the forest shook with the arrival of Missingo.

****

Izzy groaned as yet another attempt to repair the digital gate collapsed. The program was more complex than he had anticipated, and the errors themselves were constantly changing, which made it difficult if not impossible to correctly repair the problem.

**_"...Can you hear me Koushiro?"_**

Izzy fell out of his chair in surprise. "Mewtwo?" Izzy said in confusion. "I didn't know you could communicate telepathically through the computer."

**_"Neither did I, but I had to try. There's something you must help me with."_**

"What is it?"

**_"I need you to find a way to open the gate between our worlds."_**

"What? Why? I thought you liked it here."

**_"...It's not for me. We have to return Missingo to the other world."_**

"But...I thought you guys were going to destroy him?"

**_"If we can, we will. However, something tells me that might not be possible. Cody said something that troubles me..."_** There was a pause in the message, as if Mewtwo was thinking to himself. **_"Koushiro, you have to try. It may be the only chance for survival this world has."_**

Izzy sighed. "I can try Mewtwo, but I can tell you right now it's next to impossible to reopen that gate. You and I both know that the energy needed to activate that gate again is tremendous. That kind of energy isn't just lying around, even in the Digiworld."

**_"There must be a way. Are you sure there aren't any massive power sources you can use?"_** Izzy fiddled with his pen, and made a quick list of things that might do the trick. It was an exceptionally short list.

"Unless you have a nuclear power plant with you, I can't open the portal. You yourself might have enough energy, but you can't power a gate with your abil-" Izzy stopped in mid-sentence as a thought entered his mind. "...But I think I know something that can."

**_"...Name it."_**

"Mewtwo...did that guy Seth ever tell you about the Golden Digiegg?"

****

"There they are!" yelled Agumon. Behind him, Gabumon, Gomamon, and Palmon ran up the hill as fast as they could, with Cody and Armadillomon right behind them. Above them, Tentomon and Biyomon flew ahead. Up ahead, a loud explosion could be heard, and the digimon looked up to see a small cat flying through the air, along with a young girl in pink and yellow. Both landed ungracefully in the green grass with a loud *thump*.

"Oh no!" yelled Cody. The boy ran up to where Kari fell, with a heavily battered Gatomon nearby. "They're breathing, but they're not getting up anytime soon."

"Cody, get Kari and Gatomon out of here with Armadillomon!" ordered Gabumon. "Leave Missingo to us until the others get here!"

"But...you can't fight this thing at your current level!" said Cody. "Gatomon was using a digiegg and she-"

"Do it Cody!" yelled Agumon. Cody was gripped by indecision, but the tone of Gabumon's voice helped move his feet. Armadillomon carried Kari on his back, while Cody picked up the tiny Gatomon and helped Armadillomon keep Kari steady as they ran from the battlefield.

The six digimon stared with determination at the floating mass of black dots that was Missingo. When the pokémon's blue glow had reached a level satisfactory to the monster, it again started moving towards the town.

"Okay guys, this is it," said Palmon. "Missingo."

"Try to slow it down! Pepper breath!" Agumon's mouth opened wide, and several fireballs shot out at Missingo. The moment they hit the blue aura generated by the pokémon however, the fireballs dissipated into nothing.

"Remind me never to introduce any of my new friends to Agumon," said Gomamon. "Marching Fishes!" A horde of flying fish from the dammed river nearby launched at Missingo, meeting with the same fate as Agumon's attack- disappearing into nothing.

Palmon leaped to the front. "Let me try! Poison Ivy!" The digimon shot out her leafy tendrils to a nearby tree and latched onto the tree trunk. She pulled with all her might, uprooting the tiny tree and sending it flying at Missingo. The tree itself burst into brown and green pixels the instant it hit the distortion around Missingo.

"Our attacks aren't strong enough," said Agumon. Missingo reached the part of the hill where they were, causing them to hop backwards a few yards to avoid touching him. 

"Everyone shoot your attacks at the same time!" said Tentomon. "All the energy together may be enough to get through."

"Okay, let's try it," answered Agumon. All the digimon but Palmon (who didn't have a projectile attack) charged up their power.

"Pepper Breath!"

"Blue Blaster!"

"Spiral Twister!"

"Super Shocker!"

"Marching Fishes!"

The attacks melded together in mid-air as they sped towards Missingo, and upon contact with the pokémon the attacks exploded.

"All right!"

A noise that sounded like a howl of pain from a deep pit echoed through the air. The digimon looked at the source of the noise, and watched as Missingo rumbled towards _them_, rather than the city.

"Uhh...I think we got his attention," said Gabumon.


	4. Miracles

"Look out!" shouted Gabumon as a blast of energy shot out from the swirling mass that was Missingo. The blast destroyed the ground around the digimon, scattering them left and right with the shards of rock.

Tentomon, being one of the two flyers in the group, was still up and moving. "Super Shocker!" shouted the digimon. The small lightning bolt sizzled through the air and hit the pokémon, but like the other attacks before it did little to the creature. Tentomon shot his attack repeatedly as he tried to lure the beast away from the others.

"Tentomon!" cried Agumon as he stood up.

"Super Shocker!" shouted the digimon again. Missingo lashed out at Tentomon with another blast of energy that he just barely avoided. "Get out of here while I have his attention!" Tentomon flew off at high speed, while the normally lumbering Missingo shot after him, tearing up everything in his path like a rampaging rhino.

"Tentomon!" yelled Agumon again. "Quick you guys, we gotta help him!" The other digimon managed to get up, and the team ran after Missingo as fast as they could.

Tentomon avoided blast after blast of energy, but even with his super quick wings it was getting more and more difficult to avoid the blasts. Tentomon wasn't sure what was going on, but he started to feel sluggish...

"Guys, look!" shouted Biyomon. "Tentomon's stopped moving!"

"Missingo's distortions have lagged Tentomon!" said Gomamon. At that moment, Missingo lashed out and enveloped Tentomon, who started to convulse as Missingo's powers disrupted his data.

"Tentomon, no!" yelled Agumon. The digimon tried to leap to his friend's aid, but the instant he touched the outer edge of Missingo's aura, he was shocked and knocked away with startling force. Biyomon tried her luck by flying, but she too got a shock that sent her reeling.

"I've got him!" said Palmon. "Poison Ivy!" The green tendrils shot out towards Tentomon. The ivy crackled with blue electricity the instant they touched the field, but Palmon didn't let up. She bit her lip against the pain and tried to force her way through Missingo's defenses. It was painful, but working.

"Hang on Tentomon!" Tentomon was fading in and out of focus, and the pixels that composed his body were starting to lose their coherence. Tentomon had stopped struggling by now; he had passed out from the sheer pain of his insides disassembling. Luckily, Palmon's Poison Ivy encircled the bug, and she yanked him out with the last of her strength. The two smoking and sizzling digimon fell in a heap.

"Tentomon! Palmon!" The others ran over to where the two had fallen. Gomamon gave them a once over. "I think they're going to be okay..."

Agumon growled angrily and stood up, while Gabumon stared at Missingo coldly. Biyomon landed on the ground and stood ready for a fight, while Gomamon did his best to move the two wounded digimon out of the area.

"You're going to pay for that!" yelled Agumon. An odd-sounding noise filled the air, followed by Missingo's blue aura flaring up around him like a bonfire.

"Is he...laughing?" said Biyomon. Over the roar of Missingo's power, a very deep, very loud voice could be heard.

**_"Give me...your strength."_**

"You can talk!" exclaimed Gabumon.

**_"I want...your strength. Give me...your strength."_** The black swirling dots that made up Missingo's body came together, forming a roughly humanoid shape like that of a small human child. It had no definite features, but had two arms, two legs, hands, feet, a body, and a faceless head. Around him, the blue aura that represented Missingo's distortion effect still roared against the world around him, making the forest rumble and shift.

Agumon crouched in anticipation of an attack. "What is it you want us to do?"

Missingo lifted his shiny, coal-black arms and increased the force of his distortion effect. **_"Die..."_**

Gabumon growled menacingly. "Fat chance! RHARR!" Gabumon leaped forward and shouted "Blue Blaster!" The angry digimon's attack hit Missingo with great force, but did little more than cause a few logs around the battlefield to explode into splinters or catch on fire as the energy bounced off the pokémon. Gabumon swiped at Missingo, but each time his claws simply sparked as they hit the blue energy, causing him to recoil painfully. Missingo quickly pointed his palm at Gabumon, and an energy blast launched straight at the digimon.

"Gabumon look out!" yelled Agumon as he leaped over to knock his fellow digimon away. The wolf digimon fell to the ground, and Agumon was hit by the devastating attack that sent him flying into the dirt, skidding through logs and rocks before crashing into a sturdy tree nearly forty yards away. Agumon remained motionless beneath a thin layer of brush.

"Spiral Twister!" shouted Biyomon. The green energy swirled from her mouth and hit the creature, but did nothing more than shimmer against his aura. The pokémon seemed to look at the pink bird after the attack. Biyomon froze in terror.

Missingo lifted his so-called arm and clenched his fist as it glowed brighter and brighter. Biyomon was paralyzed with fear and indecision. **_"Die..."_** As the blast seemed ready to leave his hand, Biyomon shut her eyes.

"Thunder Blast!"

"Huh?" Biyomon opened her eyes, and a huge blast of lightning slammed into Missingo, knocking the pokémon off balance enough to miss Biyomon. The blast shot into the air, exploding harmlessly above the forest. Biyomon quickly backed away from Missingo as Raidramon, Aquilamon, and Pegasusmon landed between them.

"The cavalry is here!" said Raidramon. "Sorry we're late!"

"Biyomon, are you all right!" asked Yolei as she leaped from Aquilamon's back. Yolei, Davis, and TK stared in horror at all the fallen digimon around them.

"Guys, the others need help!" said Biyomon. "They're badly hurt!"

"Okay," answered Davis, "TK, Yolei, let's get them out of here!"

"Cody is down the hill with Kari!" said Biyomon quickly. The three kids and Biyomon gathered up the wounded digimon, as the three armored digimon stood defiantly before Missingo.

**_"...I can feel your strength..."_**

"So, you _can_ talk," said Aquilamon. "Stop this Missingo! We can help you, just tell us what's wrong."

**_"No help...you must die...give me... your strength!"_** Missingo roared loudly, and the forest around them shook more violently as if to mirror his feeling.

Pegasusmon's eyes focused with determination. "You may think you're tough picking on my friends when they can't digivolve, but let's see how well you do against three armored digimon!"

****

---------------------------

The Digital World

A Remote Arctic Canyon

---------------------------

Mewtwo touched down on a snowy peak above the canyon, and surveyed the scene silently. The air was almost pure white from the strength of the snowstorm, but the pokémon's senses were sharp enough for him to see unhindered. After a brief scan of the area, he found what he was looking for- an opening in the side of the canyon.

_"So this is it..."_ said Mewtwo telepathically.

**"...Yes, according to the map, you're really close to it. You can probably sense it on your own now."** Mewtwo closed his eyes, silently reaching out with his psychic powers as the white snow slowly stuck to his furry body.

*ping*

Mewtwo's eyes snapped open. _"Yes...I can feel the egg inside. It's power...it's incredible."_

**"Yes. In order for Davis and the others to use it last time, it took the power of a Mega-level digimon to simply unlock this digiegg for just one use."**

_"Yes, I see. 'The candle that burns the brightest burns the fastest.' Something with that kind of power is more than enough to open the gate between the two worlds."_ Mewtwo leaped into the air and landed easily at the cave entrance. The pokémon slowly walked into the cave mouth, his cat eyes glowing in the dark as they adjusted.

**"Are you sure this is really necessary Mewtwo? You still haven't explained why you're so intent on opening the portal. Why go through all that trouble when the Golden digiegg could be used to defeat Missingo instead?"** Mewtwo came into a gigantic underground cavern, where a steady dripping noise was the only sound.

_"Earlier, Cody mentioned that Missingo hatched from a digiegg. Only digimon can do that, so..."_

**"...The Digiworld is treating him like a digimon?"**

_"Something like that,"_ answered Mewtwo mentally as he searched the area for another passage. _"My guess is that Missingo was injured and destroyed during the experiment, when all the pokémon were here."_

**"I suppose that's possible. Not all digimon are friendly, and Missingo could have been unlucky that day."**

Mewtwo came across a very small passageway that a grown man would be hard-pressed to crawl through. Mewtwo decided not to test the stability of the mountain by blasting holes through the rock, and couldn't teleport to an unknown place. Instead, he got on all fours and proceeded to slink his way down the passage, grunting at the compactness of the path.

_"Assuming Missingo did die during the experiment, being purely digital he could pass through the same channels that digimon do when they die. Hence..."_

**"...he could be reconfigured into a digiegg,"** finished Izzy. Izzy paused as he realized what had Mewtwo so worried.

_"And if it happened once, it will happen again._ _Like all the digimon here, Missingo will never really die. He'll come back even if we destroy him, unless we return him to the pokémon world. A pokémon with that kind of power is dangerous, because pokémon only get stronger the more they fight, no matter if they win or lose."_ Mewtwo grunted in pain as he forced his huge body through the last part of the small path. He stood up in a new underground cavern, where a single source of light hovered in the center about a hundred yards away. Needless to say, the cavern was monstrous in size. Like the last one, it was completely silent.

**"It may take him a while to reconfigure you know,"** said Izzy. **"Elecmon said that it could take sixty years for all the digimon who died during the reign of the Dark Masters to return."**

_"That depends on how disruptive Missingo's presence is. If he is as disruptive in death as he is now, he could very well bypass all the other digimon, or even destroy them all there too."_ Mewtwo floated into the air and headed towards the Golden digiegg of Miracles. _"That's why I'm opening the gate again. I'm not taking that chance. The longer Missingo stays in the Digiworld, even if he's in the afterlife, the worse things will get."_

*ping*

Mewtwo looked to his left, and a noise could be heard...something like hissing, but not reptilian. Something with many more legs...

_"There's something else in here. I can hear it's thoughts...it's hungry."_ Mewtwo heard the sound of a webline being shot, and the pokémon instinctively dodged the attack with incredible speed. He "fizzled" from one spot to another spot across the room with Agility. _"It's a spider digimon. A big one."_

**"That's probably a Dokugumon. They're Champion level digimon, so you should be okay."**

*sshs*

*hshsh*

Mewtwo frowned. _"How about a whole army of Dokugumon?"_ No sooner had Mewtwo "said" that than the whole chamber seemed to become alive. Hundreds of Dokugumon crawling on the walls scurried back and forth as the intruder's presence became apparent. They growled in annoyance at the pokémon's presence. A Dokugumon spit out a line of web at Mewtwo, who was across the room before the attack even reached him. All the Dokugumon started to shoot webbing at him, making him dive under and flip over dozens of strands on his way to the egg. Some of the strands managed to connect, and Mewtwo was tugged forcefully away from the egg. A horde of Dokugumon leaped on the bound prey, knocking him to the ground as the digimon wrestled with him to finish binding him up.

A blue glow showed from beneath the pile of Dokugumon, and a hum of energy powering up filled the cavern. In a flash of force and a scream of rage, the large spider digimon were knocked across the chamber and slammed with enough force into the walls to make dents with their bodies, even though it was solid rock. The chamber made loud creaking noises as the pressure of the snow and ice above shifted from the impacts.

Mewtwo launched towards the egg, but again he was beset by a horde of Dokugumon. This group sprayed a cloud of poisonous gas at him, which the pokémon wasn't able to avoid. Mewtwo gagged and shut his eyes as they burned like mace had hit them. The blind pokémon slammed into a stalactite cluster, making a nice crack in his skull and showering the Dokugumon with rocky bits as he fell through the air.

**"Mewtwo, I just got a call from the others! Things are looking bad..."**

The pokémon fell onto a Dokugumon, who was trampled by his brothers as they all tried to get their hands on Mewtwo. He snapped out of his stunned state and unleashed another flash of energy that sent the Dokugumon flying. He flew left and right as he avoided several lunging Dokugumon. _"What's the situation, Koushiro."_

**"The digimon from the original team have been beaten, but are still alive."**

_"...Is Biyomon..."_

**"Don't worry, she's in better health than the others,"** answered Izzy.

Mewtwo breathed a sigh of relief. _"... What's the status of the armored digimon?" _Mewtwo was slammed in the back by a huge Dokugumon tusk. The pokémon hit the ground with a loud crash, but turned over just in time to launch a globe of psychic power at the diving digimon. The attack exploded against the Dokugumon's chest, knocking it across the chamber. More Dokugumon charged, and Mewtwo twisted left and right as he threw ball after ball of energy. Blast after blast exploded, causing the chamber to weaken even more as it threatened to collapse.

**"They're fighting Missingo as we speak. Unfortunately, Missingo is still posing a challenge even though it's three on one."**

_"Missingo's energy has surpassed the Champion level already? He must be gaining strength faster than we expected." _Mewtwo launched into the air as several Dokugumon tried to tackle him. 

**"Could he be drawing on another power source?"**

_"It's possible, but what?"_ The pokémon swept towards the center of the room and grabbed the Golden Digiegg of Miracles. _"I got the egg!"_ In a flash, the pokémon surrounded his body with psychic energy and slammed through the thick rock above him like it was butter. This was the last straw in the stability of the chamber, and as the Dokugumon raced for cover, the ceiling of the cavern collapsed in a violent crash that filled the underground nest with snow and rock. Mewtwo floated above it all, quickly catching his breath as he healed his injuries with his abilities.

**"You must be getting rusty. You've been relaxing for too long."**

_"Watch it Izumi,"_ said Mewtwo as he sped off in the direction of the digidestined. _"I hope the others can hold on long enough..."_

****

Raidramon fell to the ground, battered and bent out of shape. Within moments he was on his feet again, not the worse for wear, but a little out of breath.

"Star Shower!" shouted Pegasusmon as he reared back in the air and spread his wings. A literal shower of stars fell towards the earth from his wings, falling onto Missingo and exploding on contact with him. Amazingly, even Pegasusmon's attack had little effect, even though at the start of the fight he had been harmed by much less.

Aquilamon swooped in from above and opened his mouth wide for an attack of his own. "Blast Rings!" Red rings of energy shot out from his opened beak that sped towards Missingo. The pokémon made a halting motion with his hands, and Aquilamon's attack actually obeyed, dropping in mid-air and exploding on the ground.

Pegasusmon and Aquilamon met as they swooped around for another strafing run. "His power has increased since the last fight! Where's he getting all this strength?"

"Thunder Blast!" Raidramon's attack hit Missingo, but the pokémon wasn't even phased. He retaliated with a blast of energy at the armored digimon, who managed to leap out of the path of the attack. Raidramon powered up and tilted his head back as he gathered energy for another attack. "Blue Thunder!"

**_"You are just delaying the inevitable,"_** said Missingo. **_"You're running out of energy, while I'm only getting stronger."_**

_He's right,_ thought Pegasusmon. _Our attacks are slowing him down, but we can't last forever. Between Missingo's attacks and his distortion effect, our energy is being drained to quickly...especially Raidramon. He's maxed out._ Pegasusmon flew next to Aquilamon. "We've got to think of something quick! We can't hold out much longer."

Down below, Raidramon huffed and puffed as exhaustion started to besiege him. Ignoring his fatigue, the armored digimon summoned every last ounce of his power and threw everything he had at Missingo. "BLUE THUNDER!" A gigantic wave of electricity swept forward from Raidramon, smashing through everything in its path, including Missingo. The pokémon was uplifted and swept away on the attack, crashing into a rocky hill at the other edge of the forest. Completely spent of energy, Raidramon fell to the ground and de-digivolved into Veemon again. The blue energy flew back to town, where Davis and the others were.

Aquilamon looked at the place where Missingo crashed with his hawk-eye vision, and growled. "...He's coming back."

Veemon growled in annoyance. "Darn it!"

Pegasusmon and Aquilamon landed on the ground in between Veemon and Missingo. "Veemon, you have to go! Leave him to us!"

"I'm not leaving! I'm going to make this guy pay for what he's done!"

"Veemon, don't be a fool!" shouted Aquilamon. Missingo crossed his "arms" before him, and a ray of energy shot out at the bird digimon, hitting him square in the face. The digimon howled in pain and fell backwards, landing on the ground as Hawkmon.

"Hawkmon!" Veemon ran over and helped the Rookie up. "You okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine," he answered quickly.

"You guys get out of here!" ordered Pegasusmon before leaping back into the air as another blast came his way. "Equis Beam!" A green ray of light shot from Pegasusmon's forehead and managed to divert the blast enough to miss him.

"I think it would be wise to listen to him," said Hawkmon, running down the hill. Veemon didn't move. He simply growled and stood there. He watched as Pegasusmon and Missingo battled, with Missingo quickly gaining the upper hand.

_He destroyed Primary Village..._

Pegasusmon is hit by a strong blast of energy, knocking the digimon to the ground at Veemon's feet.

_He hurt Gatomon..._

Missingo grabs Pegasusmon, who screamed in pain as the pokémon forced the armor from his body, returning him to his Patamon form. Veemon looked up at Missingo angrily.

_He's hurting my friends..._

**_"You will be the first to die..."_** said Missingo menacingly as Patamon convulsed in his grip. Slowly, the pixels in his wings began to fade away...

"Help me!" cried Patamon.

_No! Hang on Patamon!_

Veemon clenched his fists and strained to digivolve. He didn't care what he digivolved into, he just wanted to digivolve into anything that would save his friends.

Veemon's blue skin flashed gold momentarily...

****

_"What the..."_ Mewtwo looked down at the egg in his hands, and was amazed to find that it was glowing. Something was using the energy of the Golden digiegg. 

**_"Mewtwo, what's wrong!"_**

_"I...I don't know. Something's activating the digiegg."_

**_"That's impossible! Only Veemon can use it, and he's miles away from you!"_**

*ping*

Mewtwo's eyes focused as he heard Veemon's thoughts. The egg in his hand disappeared in a flash of light, causing Mewtwo to growl angrily.

"NO! The digiegg!" Mewtwo turned up the juice and zoomed off after it, hoping to stop the energy from being used. "Veemon, don't! It's what he wants!"

****

"Veemon...digivolve..."

Patamon screamed again. He struggled to hang on, but Missingo's power was wearing away at his defenses. "Help...me..."

Veemon glowed gold again for a second, but again it faded away. "Veemon...digivolve to....urggh...Veemon...digivolve toooo....urah!"

**_"Say goodbye, little one."_** Missingo roared loudly, and his distortion effect increased dramatically. Patamon cried out again as he felt the reconfiguration begin...

_Patamon! _Veemon flashed bright gold, and leaped out towards Patamon. He grabbed the little guy and held to him as tight as he could.

"Veemon, Golden Armor digivolve to...**Magnamon!**"

Missingo screamed out in pain as golden light exploded right in his face. The pokémon was knocked back with startling force, making him lose his roughly humanoid shape and fall in a heap of black glowing marbles. 

Magnamon shook Patamon lightly. **"Patamon! Hey, you okay?"**

Patamon slowly opened his eyes as the golden armor made his strength return. Weakly he looked up at Magnamon's face. "...Thanks Veemon. You're a real friend..."

Magnamon nodded. **"Go with the others. Tell them to get as far away as they can. Missingo is about to get a taste of his own medicine."**

"Right!" Patamon leapt into the air and flew over to the city, as Magnamon turned around and looked confidently down at Missingo as it reformed and floated into the air. The distortion around the two creatures was enormous, and the forest around them started to shake violently in response to the awesome power of both these creatures.

**_"Yes...you are strong...your death will feed my power tremendously."_**

**"I don't know what you're talking about, but I don't care. You've picked the wrong group of digimon to mess with. Nobody tries to kill my friends and gets away with it."** Magnamon grunted, and his golden radiance shot up around him like a fire. Magnamon lunged forward, shouting **"Now you'll pay!"**


	5. There is Always Darkness...

-------------------

The Digital World

Nearly Midnight

-------------------

Cody looked grimly at all the wounded digimon in the shelter they had borrowed during the current crisis. With the entire city evacuated, the digidestined and their digital companions were the only inhabitants, so finding a free space was easy. This shelter had been chosen for its proximity to the battlefield- the forest near the dam, essentially.

Of all the digimon in the room, only a few were actually awake. Hawkmon, Armadillomon, Gomamon and Biyomon were more or less unharmed, so they were helping the kids tend to the less luck digimon. Agumon, Tentomon, Palmon, and Gatomon were barely able to stay in Rookie form, and were currently in a deep sleep as they healed. Gabumon were battered and bruised, but he was awake at least. He watched Cody and Armadillomon as they tended to Tentomon.

"I guess this wasn't such a good idea," said Cody as he finished applying the salve to Tentomon's burned areas, although they probably wouldn't do much good on an insect exoskeleton. "Sending you guys to fight Missingo, I mean."

"We would have done it anyway Cody," said Gabumon reassuringly. "That's what being digidestined is all about." Cody noted how Gabumon referred to himself and his fellow digimon as Digidestined. It sounded kind of weird to him...but on the other hand, it made sense somewhat.

"I think we've done all we can for Tentomon," said the boy. "All he needs now is time to heal." Cody stood up and looked around at the other digimon again. "I still can't believe this. Only a few hours ago, this thing was an egg. How could it have done all this?"

Yolei walked over to the small group. "Cody...could I talk to you for a second?" Cody's eyes focused on Yolei's, adding more discomfort to the situation already. Cody stood up and walked past Yolei without saying a word. 

"Cody?" said Armadillomon, but the boy didn't answer as he left the shelter. Yolei frowned and dropped her gaze to the floor as a wave of pain seemed to pass through her as he walked by. Gabumon and Armadillomon looked at each other, but neither one knew what the deal was. Armadillomon stepped into Yolei's line of vision.

"What was that all about?" asked the yellow digimon.

Yolei sighed. "It's nothing..."

"Cody doesn't ignore his friends for no reason," said Gabumon. "You guys are fighting about something."

Yolei grew angry. "We aren't fighting! Cody's just a stubborn little kid!"

Armadillomon looked at her cock-eyed. "Sounds like he said something you didn't like..."

Yolei was about to yell again, but nothing came out. She calmed down quickly. "...Actually, it was the other way around." Yolei sat guilt-stricken on the ground, lost in her thoughts.

"What happened?" asked Gabumon, also sitting down, although he made a lot of groans of pain on the way down.

Yolei sighed again as she remembered the situation...

****

Flashback sequence...

----------------

Inoue Residence

June 5th, 2001 

(2 days ago)

----------------

_Ring...Ring..._

Moments later... "Yolei, pick it up, it's for you!" yelled her older brother in the living room.

Yolei calmly picked up her cell. "Hello?"

_"Hello Yolei, it's me Cody."_

Yolei smiled. "Hey Cody, what's up? Is your computer acting up again?"

_"No, it's not that. I need to ask you something...about the dance in a few days."_

Yolei's happy smile was replaced with a nervous smile, although she was the only one who noticed. "Eh heh heh...yeah, what about it?"

Cody cleared his throat on the other side. Obviously, he was nervous too. _"Yolei...uh...w-would you...*ahem*...would you go to the dance with me?"_

Yolei sighed. She was afraid he would ask her that. "I'm sorry Cody...but I'm already going with Ken."

_"...Oh. I see."_ Cody's voice remained as monotonous as ever, but a hint of sadness was evident.

"Don't be sad, Cody. You're still too young for dances anyway. I didn't go to my first dance until I was eleven...well, last year."

_"I'm not too young to go to a dance,"_ said Cody defensively.

"Cody, you're nine years old," said Yolei. "You shouldn't even be thinking about girls yet."

_"Just because I'm nine years old doesn't mean I'm not as mature as the rest of you!"_

"Cody, take my word for it. All the girls my age are tall, and you haven't hit your growth spurt yet. Dancing with you would be like... dancing with their little brother."

_"That's not funny Yolei! Look, all you had to do was say no, okay! You don't have to explain the whole reasoning behind why you don't want to dance with me! *click*"_

"Cody, I-" She wasn't sure if he heard the rest of it, but at that point it didn't matter. The damage had been done.

End Flashback...

****

Yolei leaned her head on her curled up knees. "As usual, I let my big mouth get me into trouble."

"It's not your fault Yolei...well, not entirely," said Armadillomon. "Cody did seem to take it a little too personally."

"No, he didn't," said Yolei with yet another depressing sigh. "He could have asked another girl out if he wanted to, but I took what confidence he had and crushed it. There are girls his age at the school."

"I doubt any of them go to dances though," said Gabumon. "I remember TK and Kari when they were Cody's age. They didn't act the same way around each other as say, Tai and Sora did. They just hadn't started thinking about girls and boys that way yet."

"I hadn't thought of that..." said Yolei. She hugged her knees tighter. "Why did I have to say that to him? I feel so horrible."

"Did you try appologizing?" asked Gabumon.

"Yes, hundreds of times. I've tried calling him on the phone, e-mailing him, and I even tried talking to him just now, but you saw how that turned out. He just won't listen to me."

"I'll try talking to him," said Armadillomon. Yolei and Gabumon watched as the digimon left the shelter.

"Cody?" he called out. "Cody?...Co-dy!" After some searching, Armadillomon found the young lad on one of the city streets, swinging a stick around in his usual Kendo kata. His swings were punctuated by grunts of anger, and his eyes showed the emotion raging inside him, while his face was fixed in an expression of calm. Armadillomon stood nearby and watched as Cody practiced.

"Hey Cody, how's it going?"

"..."

Armadillomon frowned. "Listen Cody, I'm here for you. I know you're angry and all..."

"Ha!" he yelled, swinging the stick forcefully before him. Armadillomon jumped a little; Cody tended not to be angry.

"...but you know that Yolei was just trying to-"

"I don't care what Yolei was trying to do!" yelled Cody as loud as his voice would let him. He threw his stick on the ground forcefully, causing it to rattle all the way down the nearby sidewalk. "I don't need her to explain to me that I'm a little kid!"

"Cody..." said Armadillomon sympathetically. Cody clenched his fists angrily at his sides. He stood there, boiling with rage, but unsure what to do with it. He wasn't a violent person normally. Inside, he wondered if perhaps Yolei brought out the worst in him. They had been friends a long time...but they never really fought about anything. This was their first real fight, and it wasn't looking too good.

"Armadillomon...I...I just need some time alone," said Cody softly. "I need some time to calm down."

Armadillomon walked over next to his human friend. "Are you sure?"

Cody nodded. "I'll be fine. I know that Yolei was just being sincere like she usually is. *Sigh*...I guess the first rejection is always the hardest." Armadillomon frowned empathetically, and despite what Cody had said about needing to be alone, he remained by his side. However, Cody didn't seem to mind.

Davis ran out to where the two were. "Hey you two! Let's go!"

"What's going on?" Cody asked quickly.

"Patamon is telling us to retreat. Magnamon is fighting Missingo."

****

---------------

The battlefield

---------------

Magnamon threw punch after punch, kick after kick at Missingo, and each attack rang loudly through the air. Every time Magnamon hit the pokemon, a little bit of the pokemon's aura was destroyed. Missingo seemed unable to defend effectively- perhaps due to the element of surprise being on the digimon's side. Missingo wasn't expecting to fight a digimon that could hurt him.

**"This one's for Gatomon...Magna Blast!"** Missingo tried his best, but couldn't stop the Magna Blast. The attack overwhelmed him, and the black marble-like dots scattered on the ground.

**"Game over, pokemon,"** said Magnamon. 

**_"Think again, digimon."_** Magnamon stared in shock as the dots began to vibrate and glow again. **_"You cannot kill me that easily. As long as I am part of the Memory Bin, my strength is more than a match for your own."_** Within moments, the dots got up again, and glowed with renewed power.

Magnamon grunted angrily. **"Memory Bin?"**

**_"Yes...the 'free space' to which your kind goes to be reconfigured."_** Missingo again formed a roughly humanoid shape, surrounded by distorted digital energy. **_"I have become a part of it. As more of the Digital World becomes warped by my presence, more of it loses its consistency and becomes 'free data' again, thus returning to the Memory Bin, and feeding my power."_**

Magnamon was on the verge of another fit of rage. **"...Your databytes come from the digimon who have died."**

_"Yes. My base code could not be reconfigured properly since I was a digital pokemon rather than a true digimon, yet the Memory Bin tried to do so anyway. It was partially successful- part of me is still in the Memory Bin, while the part you see before you exists as well. I still remain as one being however, so my powers are at work in the Digital World and the digital afterlife. The more data I collect in the Memory Bin, the stronger my powers."_

**"Why? Why are you doing this? What have we done to you? Mewtwo told us that pokemon aren't hostile unless their master is."**

**_"Mewtwo? Hmm...Mewtwo. I know that name."_**

**"He's a pokemon just like you! He's told us that pokemon aren't evil, but here you are, trying to destroy us all!"**

**_"Then he knows so little about me. I'm not the same as normal pokemon...I'm a glitch."_**

**"A glitch?"**

**_"An accident. A mistake. Whatever you want to call it, I'm not supposed to exist, yet I do. I exist for only one purpose...to destroy other pokemon...all pokemon. That's what I was made for, that's what I'll do. But with no pokemon around...I'll deal with your kind instead. And since I'm a digital virus...it'll be easily to destroy you all."_**

Magnamon growled angrily and charged at Missingo with a "Magna Punch". Amazingly, Missingo stopped the punch- and Magnamon himself- without lifting a finger. Magnamon hovered motionlessly, trying to move but unable to do so. Missingo's warping effect had to be the culprit, thought Magnamon.

**_"So you see, digimon, I'm not evil. I just do what I was born to do..."_** Missingo lifted his hand, put his palm up towards Magnamon's face, and started to power up for a powerful blast of energy.

****

**_Hurry up Mewtwo, something's wrong with Magnamon!_**

_I can't see him yet! What's wrong!_

**_His processing speed has dropped to 1K; A snail can outrun him! He's wide open for an attack!_** As Izzy suspected, Missingo was powering up for a powerful attack that would fry the digimon. **_Missingo's attack is a Mega-level blast! Magnamon won't be able to survive it at that range!_** As hard as it was to imagine such power...somehow Missingo was doing it. Mewtwo made a quick burst of speed, and the instant he saw the golden armor digimon, he activated his teleport. He fizzled one way...

Missingo shouted, **_"Die!"_** His attack shot out of his hand, scant feet from Magnamon's face. Magnamon braced for impact, but was shocked to see a strange vibration in the air before him for a split second. Right in the path of fire, a purple shape took the brunt of the blast, which seemingly fried the guardian angel. Amazingly, none of it came through. 

**"Mewtwo!"** Magnamon watched as the limp body of the pokemon fell to the ground. Mewtwo's body was smoking, and missing lots of cat hair on his upper torso. Missingo growled angrily and shot another attack, but Magnamon was able to move this time, and quickly avoided the attack.

**_"Stupid creature. I suppose it was better now than later that he meet his maker."_** Missingo wasn't aware of Mewtwo's past, so he didn't notice the irony in that statement.

Magnamon looked angrily at Missingo. **"I've had enough of you! Magna Blast!"**

Missingo avoided the attack this time, rather than try to block it, but the dodge took some time. With that time, Magnamon gained several free shots at the pokemon, who fell back as blast after blast rained down on him. Eventually, Missingo regained control of himself, and returned with his own hits on the digimon. The two shot back and forth, neither one having a definite advantage over the other.

**"I don't care if I have to kill you a million times! You're not seeing the light of day again, unless it's from my Armor of Miracles!"**

Missingo made a sound as close to laughing as the digital glitch could make. **_"Strong words. Your Armor is already becoming obselete as we fight. Simply floating here, you're digital energy is draining away...feeding me...increasing the free data in the Memory Bin. You're fighting a losing battle."_**

"So you say," said a voice. Missingo turned around, and he was amazed to see the pokemon he had just hit with his attack, floating up into the air. He looked like he had been through Hell...and as hot as that blast was, he practically was.

**_"You..."_**

"You can't win, Missingo," said Mewtwo evenly. "You may think you're something special, but in reality...you're nothing to me. I'm the original Doomsday pokemon...you're just the wannabe."

Missingo turned what was supposed to be his head towards Mewtwo. **_"Your boasts are likely to get you killed, feline,"_** said Missingo. **_"Once I finish with this digimon, you will die as well."_** Mewtwo zipped instantly to the side of Magnamon, before Missingo was even completely turned around.

"You may be a pokemon, Missingo, but you know nothing about what that means. If you did you would understand that real pokemon will always defend those they call friends...with their lives if need be." Mewtwo's eyes started to glow blue, in a way that Magnamon (or rather, Veemon) knew all to well. Mewtwo was getting mad.

**_"Touching, to say the least, but ultimately futile."_** Mewtwo and Magnamon looked at the forest around them as it literally started to stretch, with Missingo being the center of that stretch. **_"Within moments, this area will be completely gone, and the rest of the Digital World will start to unravel. Nothing can stop this world's death."_**

"We'll see about that," said Mewtwo. He and Magnamon both powered up at the same time- Mewtwo with blue energy, and Magnamon with gold energy- and went on the offensive. Magnamon halted right in front of Missingo and unleashed a powerful Magna Blast attack, stunning him momentarily, while Mewtwo shot blast after blast of energy. Missingo countered with a violent counterattack on the Golden digimon, which knocked him to the ground. Mewtwo dashed to ground level and called on his psychic powers as he gathered energy in his hands. The attack started to look as huge as WarGreymon's Terra Force attack, and could be seen for miles around...

****

"We can't just leave them!" argued Biyomon for the tenth time. "What if they need our help!"

"Trust me Biyomon," said Davis. "Magnamon and Mewtwo are better off by themselves. Don't mean to insult ya, but a couple Rookies aren't going to make a difference in this fight."

"Davis is right Biyomon," said Kari, who was carrying a still-sleeping Gatomon. "We have to leave the fighting to them, and get the wounded digimon to safety."

Biyomon looked at the ground dejectedly. "But...I feel like we're abandoning them. I don't want to leave Mewtwo behind."

Gabumon put a reassuring paw on the pink digimon's shoulder. "Don't worry...he can handle this Missingo jerk. We, on the other hand, are a little less capable since we can't digivolve." Biyomon and the others looked up as they saw a massive globe of blue light in the sky, like a star over the forest. It swung violently through the air, before being sent down into the battlefield and exploding with amazing force. The ground shook from the strength of the vibration, and the forest seemed to burst into flames, causing an orange hue to appear in the night sky above the green of the trees, which were slanting oddly towards the forest center.

This was the last straw for Biyomon. "I'm going!" Biyomon took off and flew towards the forest as fast as her wings could carry her.

"Biyomon, don't!" shouted Hawkmon. "Drat...I'll get her," he said. Hawkmon flapped his wings and headed after the other digimon as fast as he could, leaving the others to wait for them, hoping they came back in time for them to reach safety before disaster struck.

****

Magnamon fell as another blast from Missingo hit him square in the chest. Despite the severe beating it was taking, the golden armor still shined brightly as the digimon continued to fight as best he could. As before, Missingo's distortion effect was starting to take its toll on him. He was losing too much energy too quickly, and soon he may not have enough energy to stay as Magnamon. Sweat dripped down the digimon's face as Mewtwo zoomed over next to him in a flash of light.

"You okay Magnamon?" said Mewtwo as he caught his breath also.

**"...I'm not sure. I'm losing strength fast, and Missingo doesn't even look like he's getting hurt by our attacks. I think he's reached the equivalent of the Mega level."** The two watched as Missingo gathered his energy below and prepared to resume his offensive against the two monsters. **"I'm not going to give up...but at this rate, it doesn't look good."**

Mewtwo closed his eyes in thought. "He said something about...the Memory Bin. That's his source of power. If we separate him from it, his power will return to normal levels, and he'll be easy to capture...although he'll be as strong in the afterlife as he is now...and we may have to borrow the pokeball I came here in to capture him."

Magnamon smiled underneath his mask. **"I remember that day. I don't think I've ever seen Biyomon happier."**

Mewtwo sighed deeply. "Yes...I don't think I've ever been happier either." The pokemon turned to Magnamon with a serious expression on his face. "That's why it's so hard for me to do this." Mewtwo grabbed Magnamon mentally, using his awesome psychic strength to good advantage.

**"Mewtwo, what-!"**

"The next time you see Missingo after he reintegrates himself, he should be weak if I succeed. Capture him then." Mewtwo geared up for a tremendous telekinetic toss into the upper atmosphere, with Magnamon as the ball. "Also...tell Biyomon...she was the light of my life." Before Magnamon could reply, Mewtwo literally threw Magnamon clear towards the horizon.

Missingo's power had reached a suitable level, and the pokemon was now initiating the last burst of energy that would tear the digital landscape in that area asunder. Mewtwo called on all the energy he could, and then some, as he powered up for an attack that would make Omnimon think twice...but unfortunately, it wouldn't come without a price.

**_"Say goodbye..._**" said Missingo menacingly as he sent his power earthward.

_...Goodbye._ The pokemon unleashed his power, and an explosion ensued like that of a newborn star, with Mewtwo at the core...

****

Hawkmon managed to grab Biyomon before she reached the forest. "Are you crazy?" said the younger digimon. 

"Let me go!" Just as Biyomon was about to protest more, they saw a streak of golden light launch itself towards their general direction...then over their general direction. Both got a good enough look to tell who it was. They watched in horror as Magnamon literally crashed into the city they had been trying to protect. Luckily, all he really damaged was the sides of a few walls as he crashed through two multi-storied buildings before hitting the cement.

"Magnamon!" shouted Hawkmon. He tried his best to drag Biyomon back with him. "Come on Biyomon, we have to get out of here!"

"No!" she shouted authoritatively. The two heard a rumbling noise very closeby in the forest...the kind of rumble one hears before an impending avalance...the rumble of impending doom.

Then, it happened...an explosion of gigantic proportions that sent out a wave of fiery force in all directions. Trees were incinerated...the dam was burned and nearly shattered...and the two digimon were close to being barbequed unless they got moving!

"Run for it!" shouted Hawkmon as he and Biyomon jetted into the air. The two flew as fast as they could away from the blast, and managed to get a good distance away before being engulfed in the outer rim of the explosion. They cried out in pain as fiery energy surrounded them, making them black out almost instantly from the sheer force of the blast.

_Mewtwo..._

****

_Mewtwo lifted an eyebrow suspiciously. "I don't have time to play."_

"Pleeeease? I promise not to bother you anymore if you play for just ten minutes." the little digimon said as she smiled. Mewtwo stood silently for several seconds, until finally he relented. 

"Very well. Just for ten minutes. Then you'll never bother me again." Mewtwo said, calling on his telekinetic powers to fly.

"If you want. Now for ten minutes, you're mine!" she said, ramming into him with surprising speed. "You're it!" she said, dashing away at high speed.

"Grr..." Mewtwo charged after Biyomon, who dashed through the massive fans that spun over the New Island lab. Her size and speed were enough to give Mewtwo a run for his money, but after a clever feint by Mewtwo, the pokemon managed to tag the little bird.

"Rrr!..." she growled playfully. Biyomon charged after Mewtwo, who dashed along the beach of the island, making water spray everywhere as he skimmed the surface, with Biyomon in hot pursuit.

_Mewtwo smiled and shot upwards, creating a small geyser of ocean water as he raced higher and higher towards the sun-filled skies. Biyomon laughed as Mewtwo did a loop-de-loop through a cloud, catching some of the white fluff along the way in his whiskers. Mewtwo sneezed as the cloud fluff tickled his nose, making him falter in his flight. _

"Gotcha!" cheered Biyomon, playfully smacking the pokemon. Biyomon laughed and dashed off as Mewtwo pursued her. Biyomon was amazed when she heard Mewtwo laughing with her. The two dashed through the clouds, oblivious to the rest of the world as their little game continued...

****

_"Why do you have to leave?" Biyomon said finally. _

Mewtwo looked at the little pink bird. "I don't belong here."

"Yes you do!" she said, looking up at him angrily through tear-filled eyes. "If you go back, you'll just hide from the world again, and you'll be sad again..."

"I'm a pokemon. I'm supposed to be in my world. You're a digimon. You have to be in your world."

Biyomon grabbed Mewtwo fiercely. "Please don't go..."

Mewtwo held Biyomon comfortingly for a while as she cried silently. Mewtwo floated silently into the air and slowly made his way back to the others. They watched the pokemon land gracefully, and he carefully handed Biyomon to Sora.

"Mewtwo..." Biyomon said, trying to get out of Sora's arms. "Don't..." 

Mewtwo backed away, closing his eyes as he began to weep as well. 

"Goodbye, Biyomon..."

_Biyomon..._

"Biyomon...Biyomon?"

"Is she okay?" asked Davis, who was holding a very tired Chibimon.

Hawkmon shrugged. "We didn't get hit that hard, relatively speaking. She should be okay."

Biyomon slowly opened her eyes. "Wha...what happened?"

"You were hit by some of that explosion," answered Kari, who was kneeled next to her. "Are you okay?"

Biyomon sat up, and groaned as she felt a jolt of pain in her side. "I think I broke something," she said dreamily. When her mind had shaken all the cobwebs out, Biyomon sat up again. "Mewtwo! Is he okay? Did he get hurt by that explosion?"

Silence.

Biyomon looked from face to face. "...Is he okay?" She looked over at Chibimon. "Chibimon?"

The baby digimon avoided her eyes, because he started to cry despite his best attempts to stay strong. "*sniff*...h-he said...that...you were the light of his life, Biyomon." Biyomon's eyes went wide. Instantly, she got to her feet and ran as fast as she could into the leveled forest.

"Mewtwo!" she cried as loud as she could. The little bird digimon ran up the hill that led to the battlefield, and went to the center of the forest, where the explosion occured. Destroyed, burning logs and uplifted earth lay everywhere. In the center, there was a deep pit where the base of the explosion was...and inside, there was a body.

Biyomon slid down the sides of the pit and ran over to the body. "Mewtwo! Wake up!" she cried as she shook the body. No change...his eyes remained closed, and his furry body remained still. Biyomon put her ear to his chest to try and listen for a heartbeat. Again...nothing.

Gabumon walked up next to her slowly and kneeled down next to her, offering her a reassuring paw. "Biyomon...he...he's..."

Biyomon didn't lift her head up. Rather, she let her head rest on his still body as she started to cry. She tried to feel the warmth in his fur that she had felt there before...tried to hear the heart that beat quickly in his chest. She wrapped her arms around the pokemon's head, and cradled it closer to her own as she let her tears fall onto his face.

"Mewtwo..."


	6. ...Before the Light

Nobody seemed able to think clearly. After Mewtwo's body was found in the crater that used to be a forest, all hope seemed lost. Mewtwo had destroyed Missingo's body...but Missingo would be reconfigured eventually. When that happened...the digital world may not survive.

Biyomon had taken Mewtwo's death the hardest. It had taken quite a bit to get her away from the crater (one of the digimon ended up digivolving to keep from getting hurt). By the time the other digimon all woke up a few hours later, she was still in a state of shock. She hadn't said a single word the whole time and no amount of consoling from the kids seemed to be working. For the moment, the kids let her sit in the shelter, while they worked on a plan outside. Palmon insisted on staying with her, to try and comfort her.

"Biyomon?" said Palmon. She put a hand on the pink bird's shoulder. "I'm sorry..." Biyomon did nothing but look up at the green digimon sadly. Palmon looked at the floor to avoid seeing Biyomon's eyes. "I...I never would have guessed that Mewtwo would go that far," said Palmon. "He knew what he had to do...and he did it. And for that, I respect him more than ever." Palmon looked back into Biyomon's eyes with a light smile. "I think I see why you like him so much."

Biyomon sniffed and wiped a few tears from her eyes. "...He was really brave. Even before he considered us friends, he tried his best to protect us when we needed help," she said, referring to their time in the other world. "But he was so lonely...it made me so sad to see him giving so much for others, and not having anything for himself. I wanted to make him happy." Biyomon shook her head. "But now look what's happened. I wish I never asked him to stay here!"

"Don't say that Biyomon," said Palmon softly. "I'm sure if he had the chance to do it again, he would still come to the Digital World. Don't blame yourself for what happened."

"But...why did he have to do it? There had to be another way."

Palmon frowned. "I don't know if there was. Missingo seemed unbeatable...and since none of us could digivolve, there was no one else that could face him. Mewtwo did what he felt he had to do."

Biyomon choked her tears back. "If only he could come back...if only he were a digimon." Biyomon looked into Palmon's face. "Palmon...where will he go now?"

Palmon shrugged. "I don't know. Humans believe in a place called...'Heaven'. Maybe he'll go there."

"What do you think Heaven's like?" asked Biyomon. "Do you think it's nice?"

"...I think so. I think it has lots of clouds..."

Biyomon smiled lightly. "Good...Mewtwo likes to play in the clouds. Maybe it'll help him *sniff* ...remember me...*sniff*..." Biyomon started to cry again, and Palmon held her friend lovingly as she let her sorrow out.

****

"And that's the story," said the recently recovered Veemon. The others stood in shock at what they just heard. "Mewtwo thought the only way to stop Missingo was to cut off his source of power- the Memory Bin. So he sacrificed himself to try and get to the heart of Missingo's power."

"My god..." said Yolei wondrously. "How do you stop something with the power of all the dead digimon in the Digital World?"

"It's like fighting Apocalypmon all over again," said TK. "That monster was a match for all our Mega and Ultimate digimon."

"Now we have to fight a pokémon version, which is even worse," said Cody. "Missingo can still grow in power as he fights us, and thus control more and more energy. If we don't find a way to weaken him, he'll win eventually. There's no tie in this fight."

"So what do we do?" said Gatomon evenly. "It's been nearly three hours since Missingo disappeared, but the gate still doesn't work, so he must still be alive...or whatever you want to call it. Mewtwo may be stalling him, but he can't for long. His power isn't enough to match Missingo's for long."

"What _can_ we do?" said Davis. "The Golden Armor has been used up, and now Missingo has its energy in that Bin of his. Now there's no way to reach a level even close to Missingo's. Even before that, we have to think of a way to _fight_ him."

Tentomon and Gomamon were whispering amongst themselves. Eventually, they nodded and stepped forward. "There might still be a way to digivolve," said Gomamon.

"What is it?" asked Kari. "Right now, we're willing to try anything."

"Normally we need to use Crests and Armor to digivolve, but if there's free data lying around in this Memory Bin, we should be able to digivolve fairly easily," said Gomamon. "Send in the cavalry, turn up the power, whip Missingo's butt, end of story."

"Gabumon and I can reach the Mega-level then," said Agumon.

"If we're lucky, we may even manage to become Omnimon again. Between us and Mewtwo, Missingo wouldn't be any trouble."

"That's a lot of ifs, guys," said Yolei. "You're saying you can just _make_ yourselves digivolve, with no digivice or anything?"

"Basically," said Gomamon. "Digimon do it all the time, but it takes a real long time, or a lot of emotion and strain."

Gatomon nodded slowly. "When I was Myotismon's slave, I became a champion level digimon like I am now. I don't need a digivice to stay at this level."

"We actually have digivolved without the Crests themselves before, during the battle with Apocalypmon," continued Gomamon. "We found out a long time ago that the digivices and Crests are just tools to focus energy, so there's no reason why this shouldn't work. The Golden Armor is the same way. All we need is to give it everything we've got. With the fate of the world on the line...that shouldn't be too much trouble."

"Interesting plan," said Cody, "but do you think it can work."

"There's a chance that it will," said Agumon. "I say we go for it."

"Me too," added Gabumon. "Missingo's got to pay! We can't let Mewtwo fight this monster on his own."

"I'm glad you're all psyched up, but I've got just one question," said Davis. "Just _how_ are you getting to the Memory Bin."

Agumon looked at him sternly. "Do you have to ask?" Slowly, realization dawned on the others, as their plan became clear.

"You can't be serious," said Patamon. Agumon and Gabumon didn't look like they were playing around.

"But there's no guarantee that you'll come back!" cried Kari. "If you go and destroy the Bin, you might be trapped! You'd be..."

"...That's why Agumon and I are the only ones going," said Gabumon. 

Agumon looked at the other digimon. "If this doesn't work...that leaves the rest of you to handle Missingo."

"I'm going to," said Veemon. "Magnamon has some unfinished business to settle with Missingo."

"Veemon, you can't," said Davis.

"Veemon, don't be an idiot!" yelled Gatomon. "If you go, you might not come back! Ever! Don't you get it!"

Veemon looked at her angrily. "Don't you think I know that!" Gatomon faltered slightly. She hadn't expected that from Veemon. "I can't just sit here and let others fight for me! Please, you've gotta let me do this!" Agumon and Gabumon looked at each other, and nodded silently.

"All right Veemon, you win. You can come along, but you'd better pull your weight around." 

"Don't worry about that," said Veemon. "I'll pull twice my weight around if I have to. Just leave a piece of that pokémon pipsqueak for me."

Agumon turned to Gatomon and Patamon. "That leaves you guys to lead the others if we fail."

"You can count on us," said Patamon. Gatomon nodded silently.

"Please guys...you can't do this," said Kari sadly. "We don't want to lose you..."

"Hey, don't worry. We'll be back," said the orange digimon. "Just have faith."

Davis looked at his digimon friend. "Veemon..."

He smiled, winked and gave a thumbs-up. "Don't worry Davis...I'll be back. All of us will."

"And guys?" said another voice. Everyone turned to see Palmon walking into the group.

"Yeah Palmon?"

"...Try to bring Mewtwo back...if you can. For Biyomon's sake."

Gabumon smiled and nodded. "Of course. You don't even have to ask."

"...So how do you want to do this?" said TK softly.

Gabumon looked at Gatomon. "...None of the armors are recharged yet, but you're already a Champion digimon."

Gatomon shook her head. "No…"

"Please, Gatomon. You have to," he answered. "Nobody else can do it." 

"Please...I can't-"

"Gatomon," said Agumon. "You have to do it. We don't have much time."

Gatomon shut her eyes and cringed at the thought of killing her friends. As she shook her head no repeatedly, a hand touched her chin and lifted it up. Gatomon looked into the eyes of the hand's owner.

"Don't feel bad Gatomon," said Veemon softly. "You'll still have Patamon around to keep you company," he said jokingly. He kneeled until he was eye level with the smaller digimon. Gatomon looked away, but found herself looking into his eyes again. "Please...?" he said, smiling one of his more playful smiles.

Gatomon eventually answered him, although she spoke barely above a whisper. "...Alright." She grabbed Veemon in a fierce hug, which the digimon nervously accepted. "But you're coming back..." She looked at Agumon and Gabumon. "...All of you."

"We will," said Agumon.

"You can count on it," said Gabumon.

"Save me some catnip," said Veemon. He slowly let go of Gatomon, and stopped kneeling before her.

"...Good luck, you guys," said Davis. "We'll be waiting for you."

"Find Mewtwo quickly," said Cody. "He's probably not doing too well."

The three digimon nodded. "We'll find him...and we'll cut Missingo down to size. Make sure the pokéball is ready to greet him in case he comes back."

Gatomon flexed her claws, which shined as the moonlight hit them. "I can't believe I'm doing this..." She trembled as she stood in front of Veemon, trying to do her trademark attack, but looking into his eyes paralyzed her with guilt. Finally, she got her resolve up again, and leaped at the blue digimon, claws flashing. "Lightning Claw!"

Davis and the others turned away abruptly as the attack hit dead on, making a particularly nasty noise as it cut through Veemon's body. Gatomon started to tremble as she removed her hand from Veemon's torso. Before he even hit the ground, the digimon had depixelated, getting gasps of shock from the other digimon.

"Veemon..." said Davis weakly. Kari held his head to the side, while she sadly watched Gatomon continue in much the same way with Agumon and Gabumon. Three Lightning Claws...three downed digimon...three painful gasps as they disappeared. When the last one, Gabumon, had disappeared, Gatomon fell to her knees, cradling herself and weeping bitterly at what she had just done.

****

It was a place without a name, but every digimon knew what it was, deep inside. Many times when people die, they say there was a bright light that they floated to on their way to paradise. For a digimon, it was not quite as wonderful.

Veemon blinked his eyes a few times. The pain had been horrendous, but brief. Letting Gatomon kill him had been one of the toughest things he ever had to do. As could be expected, it worked in doing what they set out to do. 

"Are you guys okay?" said Veemon. His voice echoed in the blackness around him, but there was nothing for it to bounce off of. The only visible objects were Agumon, Gabumon, and a pillar of light that extended upwards as far as the eye could see. At the top was a glowing blue circle that looked like a pool of crystal clear water. The three digimon were on a rocky shard of land that looked like it had been plucked from the Digital World itself. As Veemon's vision got slightly better, more shards of land became visible. Some of them were green with grass, while others were brown like mountain rock. The piece of land they were on was the biggest, and about as large as a football field. They couldn't see what was beneath them, but from the sound of rushing wind and the smell of hot lava, they could guess what was down there.

Agumon managed to stand up on his feet, although he still felt disoriented. "Ooh...whoa...dizzy..." Gabumon and Veemon managed to get to their feet as well. All three stared in awe at the massive pillar of light.

"We must be inside the Memory Bin," said Agumon. "It reminds me of when Gabumon and I went into the Internet a while back."

"You went into the Internet?" asked Veemon in awe. "I bet that was cool."

"I'm sure you'll see it someday," said Gabumon offhandedly.

Veemon blinked his eyes a few times. "I don't know if this is good or bad...but there's something familiar about this place."

"All digi-eggs come from here," said Gabumon. "So I guess we all have seen this place before...but just don't remember."

"...What...are...you...doing here?" The three digimon looked over at the source of the voice. When they hopped over there (the gravity was a lot different than what they were used to...kind of like walking on the moon), they found Mewtwo lying on the ground in a heap of blood-matted fur.

"Mewtwo!" Veemon helped the pokémon to a sitting up position. The others noticed a weird circle around Mewtwo's head...kind of like a halo.

"Veemon...how did you guys get here?" Mewtwo coughed and grunted in pain as he held his stomach. "Did Missingo get through?"

"No, he didn't come back. We came to help you fight," said Agumon.

"Urgh...what?" Mewtwo pulled himself to his feet, and the others saw just how bad in shape he really was. His body was covered in burns, cuts, bruises, and dried blood. He seemed barely able to stand, and was having trouble breathing. Whether it was from internal injuries, exhaustion, or both, they couldn't tell. "Why did you come?"

"Look man," said Gabumon, "you can't handle this guy by yourself. Look at where that's gotten you so far. Good thing you're already dead."

Mewtwo shook his head. "I may be dead, but I still have my spirit." Mewtwo fiddled with the golden halo above his head, which sparked as he touched it. "Unfortunately, if you die here, your spirit energy gets further decomposed until your molecules can't remain intact."

"So basically...if you 'die' here, you're completely gone?"

Mewtwo nodded weakly. "Yes. In your case, you'd be returned to individual bits of data with no inbred consciousness, while in my case my mental energy would cease to exist. In either case, Missingo can destroy us completely if we're not careful."

"So that's why you're beat up, despite being an angel," said Veemon. "Just great..."

"I wouldn't call myself an angel, but you're right about the other part," answered Mewtwo. "I managed to fend him off and seal the Memory Gate. He can't get out now, unless he manages to destroy the gate itself...and he's getting closer to doing just that by the second."

"Memory Gate?" said Gabumon.

Mewtwo nodded as if he thought the digimon already knew about it. "Yeah, the glowing pool at the top of this pillar." Mewtwo looked up, and so did the others. "The Memory Gate leads back to the physical world, while the gate below us..." Mewtwo motioned downwards, "...is less inviting. I'm not inclined to find out where it leads too." Mewtwo gazed upwards, and the other digimon followed suit. "Missingo is still up there, pounding away at the gate. He left me for dead a while ago."

"You should be alright as soon as Magnamon gives you a good recharge," said Veemon. "Speaking of which, let's get going! That gate won't last forever!"

"If we manage to defeat his spiritual form, he'll be completely destroyed," said Agumon. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and focused. A glow surrounded him, and the other two digimon did the same. "Let's do it!"

****

*THOOM*...*THOOM*...*THOOM*...

Missingo felt a strange itch in the back of his mind. The glowing blue star that represented Missingo's spirit stopped blasting the Memory Gate and extended his senses towards the source of the disturbance, far below...

**_"Strange...that feels like..."_** Missingo looked down, and three distinct glows could be seen...no, four now.

**_"What's this..."_** The glows shot towards him at breakneck speed, quickly closing the gap between them and the Memory Gate.

**_"...Hahaha...so he is still alive...and he has some new friends with him."_**

In a rush of air, the four fighters halted before Missingo and the gate. Two Mega-level digimon, a Golden Armor digimon and the psychic pokémon stared at him with determination, waiting for his first move.

"Be careful," said Mewtwo. "No matter what, we have to keep the gate closed."

**_"How many times do I have to kill you, insect!"_** Missingo's voice rumbled like a hurricane. The monsters went on the attack as one. Wargreymon swiped at the blue star and slammed it off into space, as Metalgarurumon leaped with a howl and launched a blue stream of dragon breath. The attack exploded upon impact with Missingo, but seemed to do little damage as the pokémon let out a pulse of force that knocked the wind out of the two Mega-digimon.

Mewtwo and Magnamon flew at the creature, back to back. The two powered up at the same time and focused their energy into a dual Quick attack. The two sped forward at an incredible speed, and together they rammed straight through Missingo's glowing body. The star-like creature seemingly shattered into several smaller globes, but quickly reformed into one being again. Missingo glowed brightly, and a shower of energy blasts flew towards the two monsters. Magnamon and Mewtwo both were hit by several explosive blasts, sending them tumbling into the space around them.

**_"Heh heh heh...too easy."_**

*A crackling can be heard off in the distance...*

**_"Huh?"_**

"HYPER..."

*A glow of tremendous energy, forming in between two odd-looking hands...*

**_"When will you learn to die!"_**

"BEAM!" A tremendous blast of energy exploded from Mewtwo's fingertips and shot straight at Missingo. The attack never actually hit the monster, but seemed to come to a screeching halt scant feet away from him.

"Wha-!"

Mewtwo's Hyper Beam collected into a ball of energy in front of Missingo, and returned at high speed right back at him. Mewtwo cried out in pain as his own Hyper Beam exploded against his body.

Metalgarurumon rocketed behind Missingo and brought a powerful claw down on him, knocking him down several hundred feet into the space below. Wargreymon used the opportunity to release a Terra Force attack, and Magnamon unleashed a volley of missiles with his Magna Blast. The two attacks hit their target dead on, though they knew it would only stun him.

"Mewtwo, are you alright!" called out Magnamon. He flew up to where the pokémon angel was holding his head.

"Yeah, don't worry about me. All this heavy duty fighting is starting to "beef me up", so to speak."

"This isn't working. He's too strong for us," said Metalgarurumon. "We've got to become Omnimon if we want to actually hurt him."

Down below, Missingo roared angrily, and the space around them reverberated with his anger. **_"You will suffer!"_**

"Mewtwo, Magnamon, buy us some time to digivolve!" said Wargreymon. The two monsters looked at each other and nodded. Mewtwo and Magnamon flew down as fast as they could, screaming a war cry as the two Mega-digimon worked on gathering the energy they needed to make the jump to the next level.

Missingo called on his massive power and unleashed a gigantic beam of light that was over ten feet wide. The attack headed straight up towards Metalgarurumon, but he was unable to move because he was too busy trying to digivolve. Mewtwo zoomed up and quickly caught the attack as best he could; the energy was almost too much for him. He was pushed upwards as he tried to stop the attack, like a boulder trying to stop a train. Meanwhile, down below, Magnamon unleashed his powerful and deadly Magna Explosion attack, shattering Missingo's energy-based body for the moment.

Finally, Mewtwo's back hit Metalgarurumon's body, but the pokémon kept on trying. Using all his strength and willpower, he managed to stop the entire attack. As Metalgarurumon and Wargreymon started to dramatically increase in size, Mewtwo let the energy dissipate around him and zoomed back down to aid Magnamon, who was having difficulty against Missingo now that his energy had been drained from his attack.

"Magnamon! You have to digivolve to something stronger!" shouted Mewtwo as he pummeled Missingo with several Shadow Balls to give the digimon a chance to recover.

"There's nothing I can digivolve to! This is as high as I can get!"

**_"You fools! You cannot defeat me!"_** The pillar of light that held all the free digital energy started to hum and glow rhythmically, and Missingo started to turn bright gold as he called on every last ounce of power in the pillar.

"No...stop him!" Mewtwo and Missingo launched two energy attacks at him, but the instant they hit Missingo, they dissipated into digital data. Before they could gasp in disbelief, Missingo shot two ultra-powerful Hyper Beams at them, knocking them forcefully to the shard of earth below with a loud crash. Moments later, Missingo zoomed up towards Metalgarurumon and Wargreymon.

"Look out!" warned Wargreymon, but they weren't able to get out of the way in time. Their digivolution was canceled, and the two were rocked by a massive shower of Hyper Beams that sprayed from Missingo. The digimon shouted in pain as the attacks knocked them to the ground below as well. With their last ounce of energy drained, the two reverted back to Agumon and Gabumon.

Silence. Missingo laughed at the weakness of those around him. **_"Pitiful monsters."_** Missingo returned his attention to the Memory Gate, and used his increased power to start slicing a hole through the mystical device.

Mewtwo painfully tried to sit up. The halo above his head was getting dimmer by the minute as his will started to weaken. He looked up to see Missingo, bringing all his power to bear on the doorway that led back to the land of the living. Around him, the three digimon lay motionless almost completely spent of energy. All that they had left was barely enough to keep them together. Quickly losing his strength, Mewtwo tried to Endure, but he didn't have the energy to do it. He slowly drifted into unconsciousness as the Memory Gate above started to shatter.

****

Biyomon tossed and turned on the bed she was borrowing. After staying up all night and going into shock, her body was ready to drop a few hours ago. She tried to sleep peacefully, but her dreams were filled with bad things...things like Missingo.

_"...Biyomon."_

Biyomon cringed in the bed. Her dream was starting to get worse...she saw Mewtwo, in pain. In her dream, the two met on a dark, stormy cloud under an evil-looking night sky. Such a cruel trick her mind was playing on her...

"Mewtwo..." Biyomon leaped towards the pokémon, but she fell right through him. Her eyes turned teary as she tried again, each time meeting the same result.

_"Biyomon...I failed you."_

Biyomon fell in front of Mewtwo, sad that she couldn't touch him. "What do you mean...?"

_"Missingo...has won."_

"Don't say that!" cried Biyomon. "I know you can win! I believe in you!"

_"...I'm sorry. I'm just not strong enough. None of us are."_

"But..."

_"Biyomon..."_ Mewtwo's form kneeled down to as close to Biyomon's height as he could manage. _"I...wish I had never brought this disaster to your world. If only I had done something to stop this...I should never have come to the Digital World."_

"No!" cried Biyomon. "...I want to know that you don't regret coming here. I want to know that you liked being with us. Liked being...with me."

Mewtwo sighed deeply, and looked up at the digimon. _"...I loved every minute of it." _The pokémon looked into Biyomon's tear-filled eyes, and felt a tear of his own slide down his cheek, though he didn't know how. As the last of his energy started to fade away, Mewtwo leaned closer to Biyomon, whispering softly in her ear. _"...Goodbye."_

Biyomon cried out to the image of Mewtwo as it faded away from her dream. "Mewtwo, don't go! I love you!"

****

*ping*

Missingo sensed an awesome amount of data bytes being corralled, despite the fact that he was supposed to be in control of all the energy. As strange and impossible as it seemed to the powerful virus...another consciousness was taking control.

**_"What is this...?"_** Suddenly, a pink glow from the pillar shined like a newborn star in the heavens. The amount of power was awesome... **_"How can this be? What's generating all this power?"_**

Down at the base of the pillar of light, a pink light was flowing from Mewtwo's body. Emblazoned on the pokémon's chest was a familiar heart-shaped symbol. The light shown on the digimon around the fallen pokémon, and the intensity of the light awoke them from their unconsciousness.

"What's...happening?" said Veemon weakly. "That light..."

"It looks like the Crest of Love," noted Agumon. "But...how? What happened to him?"

"Did he...no, he couldn't have," whispered Gabumon to himself.

Mewtwo slowly opened his eyes and got to his feet. His body was in no condition to move around, but the pokémon had managed it. His eyes were wet from the tears coming from them, but he seemed to still carry the same determination he always had. The Crest of Love on his chest glowed brightly and rhythmically like a real heart.

**_"...If you think this frightens me, you're wrong!"_** Missingo shot a blast of energy like a comet at the small landmass, roaring angrily as it sped straight down. Without tensing a muscle, Mewtwo looked at the comet coming towards them with indifference. Before the digimon could register what was happening, the attack came to a crashing halt the instant Mewtwo lifted his arm. Without so much as a scratch, the pokémon powered up and dashed up towards Missingo and the gate. 

**_"...What! That's impossible"_** Mewtwo powered up and flew straight at the enemy pokémon like a warhead. He sped straight into the living virus like an antibody, melting the evil monster away at his touch.

_...For you, Biyomon._

**_"AHHHHH!!"_** With his last words echoing through the emptiness of that space, Missingo's body exploded as the power of the Crest of Love shattered the evil that was Missingo. Pink and blue sparkles showered down from the point of explosion, along with the data that Missingo had stolen. Slowly, the pillar of light started to resume its normal color. In the center of the explosion, Mewtwo floated quietly.

A loud crackle of thunder could be heard as the Memory Bin started to reset itself. The digimon managed to start flying again as a burst of adrenaline rushed through their bodies. The four monsters zoomed up towards the closing gate portal. As they neared the exit, they felt a painful tug in their bodies as the pillar tried to absorb them.

"Argh!" shouted Gabumon. "The entire place is going to be reconfigured!"

Mewtwo didn't waste time thinking about the situation, and reacted instinctively. As the Memory Bin began to implode on itself, he used his powers to teleport the others through the portal before he was engulfed. Just as they disappeared in three distinct flashes of pink light, Mewtwo felt his body disassemble with the rest of the Memory Bin into digital bits of information.

_Restarting..._

****

*_DootDootDoot*_

"What's that?" said Izzy. As he watched, the entire gate program seemed to be rewriting itself write before his eyes. After the initial shock wore off, Izzy realized what happened.

"They...they did it! They did it!" Izzy cheered a preliminary victory cheer, and punched the keys for his e-mail.

----------------------------

Back in the Digital World...

4:12 AM

----------------------------

*_BeepBeepBeep*_

Yolei pulled out her D-terminal. "Hey, a message from Izzy." The others looked at the little screen with her, as she slowly started to smile.

"They...did it?" said Gomamon uncertainly.

"They did it!" shouted Davis. "Woohoohoohoo! Yeah! I knew Veemon could do it!" Davis jumped around in celebration, while the others breathed a sigh of relief.

"Izzy says the gate should be working again once it fixes itself," said Yolei. "We can go home in a couple of hours."

"But...where are they?" said Gatomon. "...Did they make it?"

Davis' pocket started to glow, much to his surprise. He reached in and pulled out his D3, which was beeping wildly. "My D3...what's happening?" He held it out, and from the glow came several yells and shouts. Eventually, three digimon fell out of the D3 onto the ground in a heap, coughing and sputtering.

"Veemon!" shouted Davis happily. "You guys made it!"

"Agumon! Gabumon!" cheered their digital friends. Kids and digimon alike hugged the returning heroes happily, while the three digimon groaned and moaned painfully. When the torture session/hugfest was over, they helped carry them into the shelter where they could rest. As they walked in, Biyomon jumped out of bed and ran up to them.

"Did you find him?" she asked. The three digimon didn't answer for a while. Gabumon was the one who spoke first.

"...Sorry, Biyomon. He didn't make it through the gate. He's...he's gone."

Biyomon stared in disbelief at Gabumon, before falling to the ground. "No..."

Agumon kneeled down next to her. "Biyomon...don't be sad. He saved us all. I don't know how...but he did it."

"It was the Crest of Love," said Veemon. "We all saw it on Mewtwo's body. He had...changed, at the last moment."

"The Crest!" exclaimed TK. "But...how is that possible?" Biyomon started to cry again, though the others didn't know exactly why.

****

For the next few hours, they were essentially doing clean-up. The digimon that lived within the city they evacuated returned, and the digimon started the process of replanting the forest that Missingo and Mewtwo destroyed in the fight. The dam was more or less in good shape, so they would worry about it later. When the Digidestined and their digimon were satisfied that they had helped them enough (around 6:30 AM), they went to the nearest TV to return home.

Davis yawned deeply. "Oh man...that was the longest night of my life."

"Too bad we missed the dance," said Yolei. "I was looking forward to it."

Davis began to cry and complain. "I won't get to see Kari's dress! Noooo!" Kari giggled, and the others sweat-dropped.

Kari kneeled next to Biyomon. She gave her a deep hug, which the bird returned. "...Are you going to be okay?"

Biyomon nodded a little. "*sniff*...I'll try."

"I'll tell Sora what's happened. I'm sure she'll come to see you."

"Thank you..." said Biyomon softly. She separated from Kari, who stood up and backed away slowly.

"We'll be here with her," said Palmon. "Don't worry." Kari nodded. 

"We'll keep in touch...after we get a full night's sleep," said TK.

"Same here," answered Agumon, who was already half asleep.

Cody looked around. Nobody seemed willing to say it was time to go. He decided to take the initiative. "Okay...I'll open the gate." Cody pulled out his digivice. "Digiport-"

*_BeepBeepBeep_*

Cody paused, and Davis pulled out his beeping D-terminal. He read the message...but didn't say anything for a while.

"What is it?" asked Yolei.

"...It's Elecmon."

TK stepped towards him and looked at the message. "Is he back?"

Davis swallowed a lump in his throat. "...Yes. But there's another egg with him...and it's already hatched."

****

----------------

Primary Village

6:40 AM

----------------

Elecmon looked at the empty basket with dread. It was larger than a normal basket for a baby digimon, which worried Elecmon to know end. He wanted this madness to end...

"Elecmon!" The digimon turned around to see the five digidestined and their five digimon running towards him.

"I'm sorry...it's too late. Whatever was in this egg has already left."

Veemon growled angrily and slammed a fist into the ground. "Darn it!"

"I thought we won!" growled Davis. "Don't tell me he's still alive!"

"Guys..." Cody said quietly.

"I mean, come on! We've done everything we could and he _still_ is alive!"

"Guys..." said Cody, slightly annoyed.

"What are we going to do now!" yelled Davis.

"DAVIS SHUT UP!" shouted Cody. Everyone went silent. "...Look." The boy pointed at the basket. Everyone followed his finger, but didn't quite get what he was referring to.

"Cody...what about it?" said Armadillomon confusedly.

Cody kneeled down and picked up a small, nearly invisible object from within the basket. He held it up for the others to see...and they gasped in shock.

It was a strand of fur.


End file.
